If Jesus came back now..

Would he recognize you? Not as yourself, but would he recognize you as a his follower? Would it be clear to everyone who you belong to? Or if Jesus came back now, would it be a possibility that you would be left?

I think a common idea is that all we have to do to be a true Christian is accept Jesus, and we have a free ticket to heaven. We can live our lives the way we want, we just have to go to church every week or so. Well that's not so true. Matthew 7:21-24 shows the truth.

Here's the passage in case you're on the mobile site:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock." (Matthew 7:21-24 ESV)

I don't know about you, but I really don't want to be one of those people. But how can we be sure of that?

Look at verse 21 (the first sentence), ".. but only the one who does the will of my Father.."

We have to do God's will, not our own. We can't stay on the path we were on.
Being a Christian is more than just acknowledging Jesus as Lord.
Because of God's love for you, when you truly become saved, you want to live for Jesus. You have a passion for doing God's will instead of your own. That's a big part of what a being a Christian means. You have to adjust your life to his plan. Not him adjusting to you. You can't serve yourself and serve God.

Matthew 16:24: Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."

• Deny yourself. You ignore what you want. You put Jesus first, putting aside your own dreams and goals. You hand them over to God, and instead, get something much better in return.

• Take up your cross. You're bearing the weight of following Christ. It's not always a light load either. But it gives you purpose. It gives you hope. And it gives you life.

• Follow me. It's pretty straight forward. You follow Jesus wherever he goes. He does not follow you to where you want to go. We have to be obedient, and trust his judgement. Jesus knows what he's doing.

If you are dedicated enough to follow Jesus as stated above, then that's being a true disciple. You aren't deciding what you want to do for God..you're following his plan, and allowing him to work through you.

And at the end of it all, either when you return back to dust, or when Jesus comes back, he wont just recognize you as yourself.

He will recognize you as his follower, his disciple, and his friend.




Have a great day and God bless!