By David ReayWednesday 15 Feb 2017LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ (NLT)
Do you reckon that a woman who helps the starving poor in some third-world city can get to heaven even if she doesn’t verbally acknowledge Jesus let alone attend a Christian church? Or looking at it another way, do you reckon that a man who is very involved in his local church and knows his Bible well is sure of entering heaven?
The answers are not easy and of course we dare not judge anyone’s destiny. But Jesus seems to challenge the simplistic idea that getting ‘saved’ is all about believing and saying the right things. He is quite clear that how we live our lives matter. We know we don’t get to heaven by doing good works, but it seems we can’t get to heaven without doing good works either. Verbal professions of faith are not enough.
And as for that woman helping the poor, she is indeed doing the works of God. If she enters heaven it is only because of the mercy God extends to her. We know Jesus is the means of that mercy: she may not. No matter, a grateful acceptance of mercy and doing the works of God are the doorways to heaven.
Jesus is the only way, but we need not be conscious of that (the Old Testament saints were examples of this). Good works won’t entitle us to heaven, but good works are evidence of our relationship with a merciful God. Which all means that there will be many surprises in heaven.
Blessings
David Reay