Matthew 7:21-23 KJV — Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

If I had a favorite movie star and I kept track of all that happened in their life, studying up on all their favorite things, what would happen if I just showed up at their front door and asked to go into their home? They would probably ask me, “who the heck are you?” I could tell them my name and that I’m their greatest fan, that I know their favorite color, their favorite food, every movie they were in, how many kids they have, how many times they married, and to whom, if they ever battled addictions, where they like to vacation, etcetera, etcetera and they still would not open their door embracing me and call me their friend.

It’s more likely they would call the authorities and have me arrested for stalking. They would say, “I don’t know you and you’re creeping me out.” No matter what I say at this point it would not convince this movie star, that never met me in their life, to just open their door and let me in. You can bet there’d be a restraining order put in place so they will never see me at their doorstep again.

Those of us that are socially self controlled understand this is not something acceptable to do. Sadly, This is what so many think is OK to do to Jesus. Those of us that call ourselves Christians but choose not to read His Word, or choose not to pray and live our lives completely surrendered. Some of us can tell you all about Jesus, what He did here on earth, and how loving, healing and forgiving He is. Yet we choose to entertain ourselves with the world and harden our hearts to any change that we need to make within ourselves.

Matthew 25:11-12 KJV — Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

I have experienced relationships in my life that have proved to be very one sided. As long as I was willing to join them in what they wanted to do, or go to their house every time, then they were willing to be my friend. If I wanted them to come to my house or do something I like they always had some reason they couldn’t. They were never really interested in me or what was going on in my life but they loved to talk about themselves and their lives. These friendships only lasted until I got tired of feeling like I didn’t matter.  At which point I would just stop trying and instead move on to friends that really cared about me too.

If I truly want someone to stay in my life and they really mean something to me, I will give them the most precious thing I have in this world to give them, my time. I would be interested in what they are interested in. I would want to know everything about them and would want them to know about me. If someone meant that much to me, I wouldn’t want to go one day without them in it. Once a week for a few hours certainly wouldn’t be enough time to know each other. More than likely this someone and I would be inseparable. If you saw me, you’d see them and vice versa.

As Christians, we want to be accepted into heaven where Jesus lives. We don’t want to hear Him turn us away saying, “I never knew you.” The question really is, Have we become friends with Jesus? How much time are we willing to give Him daily? Do we truly love Him, or is it our intent to just use Him to get into the door of heaven?

Faster than anyone wants to admit everything we spend all our time doing in this world will be gone. The only currency we actually have to give in this world is our time. No matter what excuses we try to use to excuse our choices we will still be confronted with the consequences of what we choose to do with our time. Did we invest it in the world and our current, vapor sized life, that’s here today but may be gone tomorrow? Or did we invest it in Jesus and our eternal, never to end, ever, life that comes immediately upon our exit from this life?

Matthew 19:29 KJV — And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

Father God didn’t create us to be distant or indifferent from Him. No he wants relationship, a very close, intimate relationship with us. This is why He sent His Son to pay the price for our reconciliation unto Him. Have you ever loved someone so much it felt like life wasn’t worth living without them? If so have you ever loved someone that much but they didn’t return your love?

John 3:16 KJV — For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

How can anyone expect to enter into His house if all they ever did in this current life was turn their nose up at getting to know the one person who truly loved them enough to sacrifice everything just to be near them. We can’t even love ourselves with this kind of perfect love.

So we must ask ourselves once again, have we made Jesus our friend?

Until next time, may God bless you and keep you as you seek Him with your whole heart.