kingdom of heaven

April 30 - Not Everyone

Read: Matthew 7:21-23

"Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:21 ESV)

As Jesus neared the end of his popular Sermon on the Mount he began to caution his listeners regarding some of the things that might keep them from experiencing the fullness of the kingdom of God. He declared that simply stating you were his follower was not enough. He taught that your life must show evidence. He also taught that you must do God's will.

I lost count of the number of times I have taught on the subject of God's will a long time ago. It is a frequently discussed topic in my field of ministry. But college students are not alone in their desire to find and pursue God's will for their lives.

Usually when we consider the phrase "God's will" we infer the ideas of location and occupation. I don't think Jesus was speaking to these two things during the Sermon on the Mount. I actually think he was talking about God's will for us in terms of the way we think and act.

Does our way of thinking—and by that I mean our attitude, our discipline, contentment, and secret thought life; do these things match up with what God desires for us? That's a tall order. We really can't do it, but I think the point Jesus was making is that he is asking us to try, and desiring for us to lean on him for help to do it. God's will in this sense is his desire for us to want him. His desire for us to worship him, and him alone.