Everyday Grace: Working His system won’t work

“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 (NIV)

My wife Jocelyn and I have been working to make sure our time together this summer is good family time. One of the things we are doing is using a system to help our youngest daughter understand life is all about choices, an important life skill for a 5-year-old.

The system is simple, Mary Elizabeth starts out the morning with five coins. Throughout the day she can lose coins or earn them back based on her choices. It was pretty effective the first day, but by the second day, she had figured out the system.

Mary Elizabeth was down to three coins. She asked: “So if I’m doing something, and you tell me to stop, and I do it the first time, would I get a coin back?” I respond with, “Of course, you will always get a coin back for being a good listener.”

Two minutes later I see her standing in the rocking chair, rocking away looking at me to make sure I notice her. I say, “Mary Elizabeth, get down out of that rocking chair.” She immediately hops down and runs over and asks: “Can I have my coin back now for being a good listener?”

Later that day I needed her to do something I knew she wouldn’t want to do. I said, “Mary Elizabeth, I need you to come and take this pill.” She walks over, hands me a coin and says, “Here’s a coin. I don’t want to do that.”

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes another bold statement that would cause even those certain of their faith to hit the pause button. He says that not everyone who calls out, “Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father.”

He goes on to say there will be those who question him, boasting of what they have done in His name, and yet still Jesus will say to them, “I don’t know you, away from me you evildoers.”

The expectations Jesus sets out are daunting. Yet He wraps up this sermon by saying there are going to be some who think they have figured out how to work the system, and it isn’t going to go well for them.

I am a firm believer in God’s grace. It is only by His grace that any of us will experience eternal life. Is it possible, you and I try to work the system?

When I look at the world around me, I realize the world needs a church that isn’t full of people working the system. The world needs a church fully committed and sold out for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, a church ready and willing to tackle any problem it confronts.

So what will you do? Let’s stop working the system and start living the exciting and dynamic calling of following the way of Jesus Christ.

This story was originally published July 17, 2015 at 3:53 PM with the headline "Everyday Grace: Working His system won’t work."