Last night I sent someone a text that said “It seems like interaction with others is aimless.”
On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’ –Matthew 7:22-23
This morning the thought pattern was not much better. Lord, Lord, didn’t we spend hours putting up Christmas lights on our houses, and practicing for the hand bell performance, and the Christmas play, and organizing the live nativity for countless hours? Lord, Lord, didn’t we practice many more hours in the choir, and decorate the insides of our houses, and move magical elves around, and spend thousands of dollars on decorations. Lord, Lord, didn’t we come home so tired each night after countless Christmas gatherings of rich people just like us where we talked about the food we would have to throw away. Lord, Lord, didn’t we do this and so much more for Your name sake, for Your glory.
I wonder what the life of Jesus would have looked like in my neighborhood. I don’t have time for you, Samaritan woman, because I need to practice for the play, then hand bells, and then attend a party which you are not invited to. Or the Apostle Paul, I don’t have time for you, Timothy, because I need to schedule the animals, program the lights, and build a set for the nativity.
Aimlessly doing things. You can only begin to imagine the waste in my own life that leads me to look at others so that I might feel better about my own actions. I’m not as bad as Hitler you see.
Lord, Lord, didn’t I…
Lord, Lord, I need Your grace…