“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
-Matthew 7:21-23
What do you mean by the Christian label?
In today’s world we have a wrong sense of what it means to be a Christian. A lot of famous people say that they believe in God but their deeds are against what God says. Not only the famous but the average people also fall in this type of Christianity.
Many people only go to church just so they can be at peace with themselves not to have a real relationship with God. When we put ourselves first or others before God but we say we love God and believe in him then Christianity becomes just a label we carry.
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’
This might seem to be a very harsh verse as it says that not everyone will enter the kingdom of heaven. The key sentence here is ‘he who does the will of My Father in heaven’. Jesus is the perfect example of doing the will of the Father in heaven.
We can all talk about God, say that he is important to us. We can say that he gives us everything and we have gratitude towards him but, none of these things matter if we do not do the will of the Father in heaven.
The will of the Father
Let’s explore for a moment and see what is the will of the Father. Mark 16:15 says ‘And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”‘. This the principal part of doing the will of the father. By gospel the bible means the forgiveness of sins by Jesus thru the blood shed in the cross.
Jesus also said in Matthew 16:24 ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me‘, To do the will of God includes following Jesus. Matthew 17:5 ‘While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”’ . We will get into more details about this subject in later posts.
How to know if Christianity is only a label
If you call yourself a Christian, and you say you believe in God and Jesus this is for you.
- When Sunday is the only day you chose to go to church.
- If you never preach the gospel to the people surrounding you.
- If you prayer life is non existent.
- If reading the Bible is not a priority.
- If you willingly do the opposite of what the bible says.
- Sex outside of marriage.
- You love money more than God.
- You fail to love your neighbor.
- You give yourself to the pleasures of the flesh.
Read your bible and compare your life against it to see where you are failing.
