I Never Knew You

I Never Knew You

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matt. 7:21-23 NKJV)

Why, one may inquire, should we study our bibles?

Perhaps the inner dialogue may go like this:
"I'm a good person, I'm doing okay in this life, God knows I love Him and I know what I'm supposed to be doing...I go to church! Why, I've heard gospel preaching all my life! God loves me and I love Him, that's sufficient to save me. Besides, God knows that there is only so much one could do in a day, He's such a loving God so He'll overlook me not opening my bible regularly."

It's interesting that we can justify to ourselves why we won't, or don't, open the Word given by our Heavenly Father to His creation - those very souls He gave His Son up to save.

The Lord clearly says:

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness." (2 Tim.2:15-16 NKJV)

Yet how often do we choose the profane and idle babblings of man instead of the true and holy word of God?

Consider this:
How do we know someone well in this life? By lack of communication? Do we really get to know someone by casually and occasionally listening to their words, or rarely talking to them? It's incredibly disingenuous for us to think that we could ever know someone without speaking to them or hearing them speak to us. Try that with your wife or husband, with your family, with your best friend - talk to them as often as you do to God, or as often as you allow God to speak to you through His word. Try that experiment and see just how "close" you are after a few days. I'll assure you this little experience won't last very long without some serious discussion and perhaps some hurt feelings on the part of our earthly relations.

What, then, do we think we're doing when we refuse to hear God speak (bible) and when we refuse to speak to Him (prayer)?

The reality, which we all know deep down if we're honest, is that our Lord will say to us "I never knew you" if we're not in communication with Him as we should here and now. It may not be the case (and I sincerely hope not) that this is so with everyone who has read these words, but I believe that in one too many cases it's spot-on.

The Lord calls out to each of us through His word, we must listen - may we all be like Samuel:

"Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”" (1 Sam.3:10 NKJV)

May we all learn to pray like David (Psalms), Daniel (Dan.6), and like Jesus (Jn.17).

This is an area we can all improve in, is it not? May we speak to our Heavenly Father, the One whom we're longing to go home to see, and may we open His word and hear what He has spoken to us. Get to know God, truly, and then long to go home to meet Him! Heaven awaits, may none of us miss that grand reunion!