A Heart Devoted

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" -Matthew 7:21-23

I've read these words time and again, but they've stood out to me lately. There will be many in the last days who will believe they are on the right track and doing well, who are doing amazing things in Jesus' name, but who do not truly belong to God. How can this be? How can people who are performing miracles and driving out demons be rejected from the kingdom of heaven? 

Simple: their hearts aren't in it.

How do we know? Because God says repeatedly that He knows the heart. God told Samuel which one of Jesse's kids would be king, and He chose David based on his heart for God (1 Samuel 16). Jesus told parables that the religious leaders grew angry about because their hearts belonged to money and status over God, and Jesus told them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God's sight." (Luke 16:15) God absolutely knows who belongs to Him! Paul knew this and told his readers that God chose them "to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thessalonians 2:13b-14).

God chose us long ago to be His, and He saves us through Christ! Why does this not apply to those Jesus speaks of in Matthew 7? Because their hearts have chosen what people highly value yet God detests. Jesus also said in Luke 16:13, "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." Yet how many have chosen money or fame or worldly possessions and desires over God? Even among self-proclaimed Christians? It doesn't matter how many good works we do if our hearts belong to the world and not to God! Anyone who's banking on their works to get into heaven will be devastated when Jesus says He never knew them. It doesn't matter whether or not you're a good person. This is why Jesus warns that "whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it" (Matthew 16:24). It matters whether or not you're devoted to God! The greatest commandment (found in Mark 12) is called such for a reason. When we love God not only wholeheartedly, but with all our mind, soul, and strength, we are fully His! Nothing else should even come close!

Paul wrote (a LOT) about how God saves us. In Romans, he explains that nobody is righteous. None of us are good enough to get into heaven. Do not pass Go; do not collect $200. None of us deserve streets of gold and freedom from pain and, best of all, eternity with the God who made and loves us. How then are we saved? Through Christ! As quoted from 2 Thessalonians above, God chose to save us through Himself, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit (which is a fancy way of saying the Spirit is working in you to help you live more like Jesus). We just have to believe in Him, in the truth. We are redeemed through Jesus, who died in our place, and all we have to do is believe in Him. How does that work? Paul explains that too. Do you remember Abraham from Genesis? He believed that God would keep His promises, that Abraham would be a father of many nations, even though he had no children. He held that belief even into being 100 years old and still childless, and his belief—his faith—was "credited to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:9). And we, in turn, are made righteous by our faith in Jesus.

Now, I don't just mean we say we believe, but we don't live like we believe. True belief, true faith, is reflected in a person's life. If you truly have faith that Jesus saved you from sin and death, you will live like you're saved from sin and death, not continue in it! Abraham lived like he believed God would keep His word. He wasn't perfect, but was still a sinner just like all of us, but he never doubted that God meant what he said. God kept His promise and Abraham and his wife Sarah had a baby, Isaac. God even tested Isaac by telling him to sacrifice this son, and even then, Abraham obeyed God had faith that He would still make him a father of many nations through Isaac, to the point where Abraham had the knife in his hand ready to obey before God finally told him to stop and commended him for acting in faithfulness. 

Faith involves action, and showing our faith in God involves acting in obedience to Him. Our actions reflect our hearts, and if our hearts belong to God, so too do our actions. What we do and how we obey doesn't save us, but it's a surefire sign we're following Him. As Paul encouraged, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9) That harvest is us spending forever with our loving Savior. Let's keep at it, doing what God calls us to, and not giving our hearts to the world or anything in it, but just to Him. We don't want to be counted among those whom Christ tells, "I never knew you."