Devotion passage - Matt 7

Matt 7:15-23

A Tree and Its Fruit

15"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

21"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. 22Many 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?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

The men that God loves

Its been for some time now that i have wrote a devotion, so today i thought i should pen something about what God has been speaking to me. This passage is so powerful that i thought i should expand on it.

Some people believe that once save is always save, but this passage gives us a stark reminder that "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. 22Many 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?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"
God is giving us a precursor that some of us who proclaim to know God, who in his name could drive out demons may have forfeit their rights by their life and action. What the bible essentially is trying to point out is that, just because we call ourselves Christian, we still need to change our life and do the will of God. The people God was trying to warn here are Christians who may seem zealous for God. They could be leaders or people in ministry, who seem to be doing the will of the father but something is missing in their life.

The bible also illustrates earlier that you can tell a good tree by its fruit, what God wants Christian to realize that you can tell a true Christian by the fruits in their life, so what is the fruits - Well in Galations, the bible mention the fruits of the spirit : Love, Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

What the bible essentially mean is that God measures our love for him not by the works we do, because we can never do enough to please God. But by the life that we live and how we have changed.

Have your fruits been growing ?