Source: newsthemegh.com/Author Ransford Gyampo
In Matthew 7:22-23, Jesus said “ On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them,’ I never knew you, depart from me, your workers of lawlessness”.
The two verses which are our focus for the week, are frightening because the Lord Jesus said, on judgement day He will declare some people who on earth, were engaged in service for Him, as people unknown to Him.
The statement should be a solemn warning to us that, what matters most to the Lord is not our services, but our relationship with Him and our faithfulness in doing his Father’s will.
Many of us in the church boast about what we are doing for the Lord. We prophesy and it comes to pass; we have command over prayers; we sing so beautifully for others to be convicted; we are very eloquent in preaching and teaching the word of God; we are very nice in ushering people into church as ushers; we play musical instruments with dexterity and even better than how King David used to play his harp; we keep the church finances; and provide good stewardship and administrative activities to keep the church going.
These services we render in the church are great but unfortunately, they cannot qualify us for eternal life. We must therefore not focus too much on them at the expense of working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, especially when we are in our closets where no one sees us.
Are we known to Jesus? In answering this question, let us emphasize the point that, it is not so much about what we do in the public and in the church that matters. Beyond what we do in the public, we must be sure that we have a personal relationship with Jesus on daily basis through praying in communion with Him and at all times, trusting and obeying Him.
This is never to say that our public relationship or the kinds of things we do publicly in the church aren’t good. If they are born out of our personal relationship with Christ, then Christ knows us. But if we do them because we have the skills or because they are gifts which manifests even when we have no personal relationship with Jesus, then we may be disappointed. Christianity is more about our personal relationship with God and less about our public gimmicks.
The Lord help us understand.