Impossible to please.
21 Not everyone who calls me their Lord will get into the kingdom of heaven. Only the ones who obey my Father in heaven will get in. 22 On the day of judgment many will call me their Lord. They will say, “We preached in your name, and in your name we forced out demons and worked many miracles.” 23 But I will tell them, “I will have nothing to do with you! Get out of my sight, you evil people!”
– Matthew 7:21-23, CEV
In the past felt a hopeless desperation to figure out what exactly it meant to “obey my Father in heaven”. It felt impossible to know that I was doing the will of God.
Listen to the words that are coming out of my mouth.
Today, for the first time, I thought about this section of Jesus’ sermon a little differently and felt a little hope grow inside:
- Jesus is the image of God the Father on earth.
- Jesus’ words are God’s words.
- Obeying Jesus’ teaching is obeying the Father in heaven.
So… what did Jesus teach? Well, a lot, but The Golden Rule sums it up nicely.
12 Treat others as you want them to treat you. This is what the Law and the Prophets are all about.
– Matthew 7:12, CEV
When in doubt, I just focus on that.
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