"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 in heaven. Many will say to me on that day,
'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name?
Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?'
Then I will declare to them solemnly,
'I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.'"
It's not about how the displays of piety or following the rules of any church. It's about doing the will of God.
Just sayin
amen
ReplyDeleteSo I have known lots of folks who believe they know The Will of God(TM), and many of them do believe it is about the churches and piety etc. They believe that it is about lifestyle choice. Going to church and living by the rules is their devotion to God. And yes by the above I can see where they are missing the point. However, How do you know when you are doing it right? How do you know what the will of God is? I have an answer, I'm curious what yours is.
ReplyDeleteHeh....
DeleteThose who are attempting a deeper, fuller communion with the Divine would argue that it is through listening to and following spirit-filled Conscience (which some may call the Voice within).
Those who are more attuned to an external, structure-based format would argue that one follows the Golden Rule and the Great Commandments (which are the sum of all the Law and all the Prophets).
For myself, I would argue for a blended approach, noting that neither Spirit-filled Conscience nor the guidelines, if considered with attentive thoughtfulness, will be in conflict.
The other thing to recognize is doubt, which is to say that it is ALWAYS possible that your understanding of the situation is incomplete and/or incorrect. It is ALWAYS possible that you are wrong about things.
So, you look and listen...checking to ensure that what you are doing/thinking/saying is in line with Conscience and the guidelines and if they are not, then internal adjustments need to be made.
Of course, I could be wrong. (h/t to MP)
Just curious. For me it's the synchronicity. Things like knowing you, being vaguely involved with Jerry, knowing Carrie and having been counted among the homeless in recent history. There is something there for me to do but it has yet to coalesce. I watch, I wait, I think, I act as I can to the extent of my ability. There is less internal dialog and more looking around me to see the patterns.
Delete*nods* Attentiveness. I was trying to put that in there as well, but rereading, it appears that I didn't highlight that as much as I could/should have.
DeleteI would argue that, in general, we are saying the same/similar things, albeit in different ways.