In Pursuit Of Jesus With Our Whole Heart
“Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will
seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and
shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying,
Lord open up to us! then He will answer and say to you, I do not know
where you are from. Then you will begin to say, We ate and drank in Your
presence, and You taught in our streets; and He will say, I tell you, I do not
know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers. There will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth there when you see Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being
cast out. And they will come from the east and west, and from the north and
south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.”
To strive to enter through the narrow door is to desire Jesus with all
of our heart, mind, soul and strength. To strive is to let go of the things of
this earth and to hold onto Jesus for dear life. To strive is to seek to obey him
with all of our might and when our might fails to achieve the desired obedience
then to give our lives completely to Him and let Him be our might and
power! He is God! Lord and King of all His creation! We are His creation!
His might and power will indeed set us free from the power of sin!
Let us look at the crowd Jesus is addressing in this teaching and
examine ourselves to see if we also will find ourselves outside and unable
to enter in. The people Jesus is addressing are people like you and me, just
listen to their reasons for why Jesus should let them enter into heaven. “We
ate and drank with You”, “You taught in our streets”. These were people
who would recognize Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the prophets. These
were people who considered themselves to be on the inside circle, they
ate and drank with Him, they considered themselves His friends. And
Jesus says, “Depart from Me for I do not know where you are from.”
Which of us does not consider ourselves the friend of Jesus? Which
of us does not assume that we are going to heaven? I’m not saying that
your salvation is not genuine, but look at those in this message and
consider the folly of their assumptions. They were content to live in sin
(lawlessness) and at the same time thought they were safely in heaven.
We are not in heaven yet and if we have no fear of sin or sorrow for our
actions then we must examine whether or not we truly know Jesus and
whether He knows us! We do not want to find ourselves outside the
door in the end.
So the real question you have to ask yourself, and do not take
this lightly or casually but take an honest look at yourself, is, “Do I
know Jesus”? Think on this. Do you know His plan for your life? Have
you honestly and whole heartedly asked Him? Did you ask Him what
you could do for Him Today? He has work for each of us to be doing
and a plan for the best use of our lives. Have you invited Him for dinner
tonight? Is this a day that you have been eagerly anticipating because
you have made plans with Him and He is bringing a special gift for
you? Have you asked Him what pleases Him or what kind of surprise
you could give to Him and then gone out of your way to get it for Him.
Have you noticed that His heart was heavy today and He could use a
cheerful word from you? You see these are relationship questions. Jesus
wants to know you and it should be your desire to truly know Him and
to please Him in every way you can.
The people in this warning were not real friends, they were just
there for their own gain. So ask yourself, “Do I seek after Jesus for my
own personal gain and care nothing for His laws or do I seek Him because
I love Him and desire a relationship with Him?” A relationship
with Jesus brings a desire to obey Him and in that desire to obey Him
comes sorrow for sin and complete transformation from who we used
to be into sons and daughters of God.
Oh Lord, we desire to pursue You for who You are and not for
what You could do for us. We love You not your miracles! Your miracles
are a blessing in our lives but it is You we desire! Oh Lord, remove the
cloud from our eyes and let us gaze at Your beauty! You are Our Lord
and Savior! We kneel before You and give You our lives!
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