The Word To Live By: 1-18-26
Phil Waggoner
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Matthew 7:21
The Word To Live By: When I first read this scripture after I had made Jesus the Lord of my life, it really threw me. I thought I was saved by grace through faith and not by my good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). I mean, take the thief who was crucified next to Jesus who got saved as he died. WE know he didn’t do the will of God, yet he went to heaven. One day it came to me. We enter the kingdom of heaven the second we confess with our mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9, Acts 2:21). Where and how we live in that kingdom is by our faith. Let me paint this picture. Let’s say you live in northern New Jersey. Across the Hudson River is Manhattan, New York City. You cross the George Washington Bridge and you are in Manhattan. Now, you can choose to find an apartment in what’s known as the upper west side. Chances are it’s going to be dirty, crime ridden, even rat-infested. Or you can move south and east to what’s known as the upper east side of the city around Central Park, where there is clean, spacious penthouses, with doormen and plenty of police protection. You will have peace of mind living there as opposed to the upper west side. It’s quite a bit more expensive and takes more effort to live there, but it is worth the effort. But in either place, you are still in Manhattan. When you make Jesus the Lord of your life, you are in the kingdom of God; where you choose to live in the kingdom is determined by how much you choose to live in the will of God. Are you willing to love your neighbor as yourself? Are you willing to treat others the way you want to be treated? Are you willing to live with a servant’s attitude and when you can help others, act on it? When you do this, you are building a foundation that when the storms of life hit (the same storms that hit the upper west side of Manhattan hit the upper east side), the foundation of your life is intact. Matthew 7:24-27, Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell and great was its fall.” Get into the Word and let the Word get into you and then act on it.
Read through the Bible in a year: Luke 14:1-24; Genesis 25; Psalms 18;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 18, Matthew 9:20-38, Acts 18:
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160