kingdom of heaven, but only he 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 perform many miracles?’ Then
I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'” –Matthew 7:21-23
For most of my life I’ve known a lot about God. I’ve read all about His character, His life
on earth, His death and resurrection. I
believe that I’m even about my Father’s business…making disciples, serving
others, caring for widows and orphans. But even though I understand these things and try to live them out, I
can’t get over the fact that I know I still have a very limited relationship
with my Father…I struggle to know His voice, to spend time at His feet, to
truly comprehend His heart.
Living here in the heart of the jungle and seeing hundreds
of people that don’t have access to any copy of the Bible makes me think a lot
about how God reveals Himself. I think
many of us believe the only way to know God is to read about Him in scripture. I believe that the Bible is the primary way
He speaks to us and teaches us, but it is not the only way. The Pharisees were people that had the best knowledge
of the scriptures and yet they had no idea who God was. They had made it more
about religion than a relationship. Sometimes
we forget there is a God who is bigger than even the scripture He gave us and
that all the words in the universe are not enough to speak of His goodness, His
holiness, His love. Some of us have made
His word our god. That’s a scary place,
where the gift becomes more important than the giver. When was the last time we stopped our Christian
music, stopped listening to a sermon, put down even our Bible, and just
listened to God? Are we able sit in His
presence, longing to spend time with our Father and hear directly from Him?
I know there are a lot of Pharisees still in the church today. Some will probably stand before God and have
the scenario in Matthew 7 play out. I know
I have Pharisaical tendencies that I have to fight all the time. I don’t want to deceive myself and think I am
doing all these great acts in Jesus’ name and miss the person and relationship
with the God in scripture. I want the
Holy Spirit to truly open my eyes to who God is in scripture and outside of
it. I’m trying to seek God with all I am…and
I know that He is faithful to reveal more of Himself to those who earnestly seek
Him.
