Finding Spirituality II

An interesting conversation took place one Friday late afternoon between JC and I. It started when I came across a familiar scripture: Matthew 7:21-23 (NKJV). The passage goes, “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he [she] who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I [Jesus] will declare to them, ’I never knew you…’."

That passage never struck me before when all of a sudden I found it all but strange that JC would respond that way. I had to ask Him, “what do you mean You never knew them?! They believe in You (that’s what Mark 16:17 says, or they wouldn‘t have been able to cast out demons!), they did your work, and I’m sure a lot of people got saved through them! They were your servants, for goodness sake! So, how could you not know them?! And how could You being JESUS not know anyone?!” Apparently, believing in God is not enough but neither is our ‘spiritual performance’ (casting demons, prophesying, doing God’s wonders etc.) or even being a 'good Christian' a guaranteed ticket to heaven.

In His response, He led me to find out what the term ‘knew’ in this passage meant. All through the Bible, the word ‘knew’ refers to physical intimacy: Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; Adam knew Eve; Abraham knew Sarah. In the spiritual realm, it meant spiritual intimacy. To ‘know’ Jesus is to spend intimate times with Him. It happens within closed doors. Just as in physical intimacy, it is not an activity done publicly or with spectators. One has to go out their way to get to ‘know’ Jesus. It is done consciously, deliberately and regularly. So when JC said 'I never knew you', He meant you've never been intimate with Him.