To Be Least

"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." (Matthew 7:21)

      Jesus is obviously stating that not everyone will enter heaven, only he who does the "will" of God or his "Father who is in heaven." So we have to do the will of God to enter his kingdom. I began to search for a passage from scripture dealing directly about this concept of God's will. Here is what I found.

"It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit." (1 Thessalonians 4)

      Now this entire book, which was supposedly written by Paul, was addressed to the church of the Thessalonians. So it is obviously addressed to Christians. So what is the will of God according to this passage of scripture? It is that we should be sanctified. We should "avoid sexual immorality," and it goes on to give reasons for this. This God inspired letter also states that God called us to live a holy life. So I am sure that we as the body of Christ agree that it is the will of God that we do not live in blatant sin. However, you may say, we all are sinners who are saved by God's amazing grace. While this is true, there is a definite difference than living a life of embracing sin and living one of attempting within our human capabilities to live a sinless life while responding to God's discipline. So God's will is that we live a holy life.

      Here is another example of God's will, another one of many example, supports this idea of living a holy life, not a life of embracing sin. The well known story of the Noah and the flood.

"The Lord saw how great mans wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, 'I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them.'" (Genesis 6)

      The "Lord" or God was grieved by mankind's wickedness. Notice that this was not one incident, one occasion. This was a sinful lifestyle where "every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." So naturally, if God is grieved and is filled with pain when we as humans are living in absolute wickedness and sin. This grief clearly shows that what humankind was doing at this time was against his will.

      So applying these passages, we know that "only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Also that the will of God is that we live a holy life. Thus, if we do not lead a holy life, we will not enter heaven.

God bless,
Your brother in Christ