Apparently, some religious people will be stunned to hear Jesus say - I never knew you. Away from me…
They attempt to defend themselves, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name…
Apparently they aren’t lying. They really had done some very good things during their lifetimes. Jesus doesn’t say - No you didn’t!
Then what’s the problem?
Jesus answers - I never knew you!
Even with all their good religious activity, they never took time to develop a personal relationship with the Teacher!
Perhaps the greatest question we can ask this side of heaven is - Does Jesus know me?
How can we be sure?
I think Jesus gets to know us - and we Him - in the same way any relationship develops. Don’t we listen to our friends and talk to them as well?
Relationship is about communication!
If you don’t believe it, try refusing to communicate with your spouse or friends for six months! Then come back and describe your personal relationship with them.
Taking Jesus as our Savior from sin is only the first step. Making Him our daily companion and Teacher is the rest of our journey.
It seems there are things that we normally don’t talk much about in the “churches of Christ” for various reasons. How the Holy Spirit works, testimonies, being saved by grace, a personal relationship with Jesus, etc... Maybe it’s because we may sound “denominational” yet these things are very important and Biblical concepts.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we need to be less concerned with “sounding like others” and more concerned with sounding “Biblical.”
Jesus calls his disciples his friends (John 15:15) and commands them to love one another as He loved them (John 15:12) He spent 3 years with these men, teaching them, living an example, showing them his love for them, and for mankind.
Would you call yourself a friend of Jesus? A friendship is a relationship.
He is the teacher, we are the students - are we longing for training and striving to be like the teacher?