Hold On To Jesus With All Your Heart!

Matthew 7:21-23

Hold On To Jesus With All Your Heart!

     “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

Let us step into heaven for a moment...

     Imagine that you were taken up into heaven and into a grand hall where God was having a counsel meeting with some of His angels and you overhear their conversation and hear your name mentioned. This of course makes you listen closer to what they are saying. You hear the Lord say, “Tomorrow is the final day I’m keeping the door of salvation open for ______ (insert your name) and if he chooses his desires for the world which he has continued to hang onto ever since I began reaching out to him and sending people to both encourage him and instruct him, then I am going to give him what he actually wants and let him have the world. I’m going to remove what remains of his conscience and let him enjoy his remaining years on earth with no fear of the consequences. I’ve created him with intelligence and have promised him My help if he wants Me, but I will not override his decision. No one has to love Me, it is a free choice to do so. I will regret his choice, but I will not stand in the way of it. If he wants Me he will have to take hold of Me with both hands and make this a two way relationship. If he wants Me he has to begin being earnest and not passive towards Me. He must begin showing outwardly that he is beginning to love Me as much as I have loved him, and have demonstrated this outwardly through the death of My Son and from My continuous efforts to move in his life and wake him up.

     Can you imagine what this would do if you suddenly realized that your halfhearted attempts to be a Christian really weren’t pleasing the Lord or warming His heart? He loves you with a depth and passion that you can’t measure! Making a halfhearted effort toward Him might even hurt His heart more than no attempt at all. God desires a love for His Son that is real and full of our heart, mind, soul, and strength! God is not coming to collect a bunch of inactive blobs as a bride for His Son. He hasn’t gone through all the trouble of making a way for our salvation, then standing at our door to help us get out, only to find that many just feel like they should be carried into heaven with no effort on their part at all! In No Way does Jesus deserve a bride who is too lazy to even get out of their bed of earthly comforts and distractions to go to the door and let Him in. Tell me! How much more do we expect Him to do!? He has already paid a dear price for us and then worked tirelessly to get our attention! At what point do we begin to understand the gift God has given us in His Son Jesus and not take Him for granted by the casualness with which we treat His salvation? At some point if our hearts and our actions do not grab hold of Him with earnestness, He will turn away because we have hurt Him deeply, and what more is there for Him to do? He did everything right up to the point of carrying us to heaven but he won’t make our final decision for us. We have to love Him enough to go with Him of our own free will. He wants a friend and companion, not a forced slave or robot. He has done everything and will see us safely to heaven if we truly want Him. But if we truly, in our hearts, don’t want Him, He will not make us love Him.

     We need to take the gift of salvation seriously. We are so ignorant of the magnitude of the gift that we trade Him for the most worthless things of this world. The Devil fools us with garbage and like Esau, we trade our birthright for a bowl of lentils.

     

     1 Peter 1:13-16 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior; because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.

     

     2 Peter 2:20-22 For after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them then the first. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to it’s own vomit, and a sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

     

     What do you think playing with the world does to the heart of our Heavenly Father, when we say we belong to Him but continually choose this present world over Him? We are constantly choosing this world’s music, this world’s movies, this world’s video games, this world’s goals, this world’s pastimes, this world’s pursuits, this world’s friendship and approval over the things that please the Lord and are in obedience to His commandments. God is not fooled in regard to what we really desire and He really will give us what we want even though it breaks His heart to see our choice. If we really don’t wake up and realize what He is offering we will find we have traded Him for this present life.

     God desires a bride who appreciates the gift of His Son and will cling to Him with all their heart and never let go for any reason, and nothing can take them, or distract them out of His loving arms! They only want Him! Matt 13:44 “Like a treasure hidden in a field.” May we value our Savior for His real worth which is beyond compare and not as Judas did at 30 pieces of silver. This is not only a test for how real our own walk is with the Lord, but also a call and a challenge to reach out to all of our friends and neighbors who we have the chance to wake up and encourage on a daily basis. None of us know when the end will come in this life but one thing we know for sure, eternity is real and will be upon us before we know it!  God bless you all, and may we not take for granted the gift God has offered us in His Son!

     2 Peter 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.