Going Through the
Motions
Its panic at the theater as Anna
Townsend imagines her greatest fear coming true! Her fear for herself is that she’ll
forget her lines in the school play, but Anna’s deeper fear is for her mom’s
salvation. Anna’s beginning to
suspect that her mom’s faith is “all talk”. What should Anna do about her
worries?
How about
you…
Do you
have the kind of faith that is real, or are you just going through the
motions? What about your friends or
family?
Check this
out…
In today’s story, Grace had Maya read
a passage from scripture. It was
from Matthew 7 verses 21-23. Take
another look at the words of Jesus:
"Not everyone who says
to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only 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 prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and
perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away
from me, you evildoers!'
So, Jesus is clearly telling the
people (and us) that it takes more than just doing good things or saying the
right words to enter the kingdom of heaven, it’s all about a relationship with
Jesus. Is the relationship
there? Do you know Him? Those are questions we need to answer
for ourselves first. As far as
taking the questions to people that we care about—then it starts to get a little
trickier...
I Samuel 16:7
says:
Man looks at the
outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
So we need to be careful that we are
not judging someone else based on what we see on the outside. On the other hand, another thing Jesus
said back in Matthew chapter 7 goes like this:
By their fruit you will
recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A
good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every
tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus,
by their fruit you will recognize them.
So remember, we can’t
see the heart like God can, BUT if there is no fruit in a person’s life, even if
they seem to be saying and outwardly doing the right things, they may not know
the Lord. The first thing to do is
make sure YOU are experiencing that loving relationship with Jesus, then humbly,
lovingly, prayerfully ask them about it.
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