Daily Devotional
"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
Jesus ends His greatest sermon not with a soft benediction but with a warning meant to unsettle us. Notice carefully who is turned away here. These are not the obvious rebels who cursed the name of God and wanted nothing to do with Him. These are people who call Jesus Lord, who preach, who appear certain that they belong. And the most sobering detail is that they are surprised. They come with their record in their hands, fully expecting to be welcomed, and they are not.
This scene is designed to make us question where our confidence rests, or more importantly, in whom our confidence rests. Doriani notes that the terror of this passage is precisely that it targets the religious, not the irreligious. The people most in danger are not the atheists in open rebellion but the confident insiders who have never let their hearts be examined. Self deceit is the worst deceit of all, because the one deceived is the last to know.
So we begin the week honestly. Jesus is not trying to wound a tender believer; He is trying to keep a confident stranger from a fatal surprise. That takes humility. It means we cannot simply feel our way to an answer. It means we let the Lord who sees the heart do the searching that we are not qualified to do ourselves.
Today's Challenge
When you imagine standing before Christ, what are you tempted to hold up as your evidence? Are you resting in something you have done, or in Him?
Prayer
Father, I do not want to be a confident stranger. Search me and know my heart, and show me anything in me that is resting on the wrong thing. I confess that I cannot see myself clearly, so I ask You to do the searching I cannot do. Keep me from a fatal surprise, and root my confidence in Christ alone. In Jesus' name, Amen.
