I NEVER KNEW YOU

I NEVER KNEW YOU!

Matt 7:22-23

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

           Try to imagine someone familiar forgetting your name! It has happened to me and I’ve been on both sides of the issue. Time goes by and perhaps we haven’t watched the person age. For instance, all my high school friends have become old people! I might not recognize them if I bowled them over in Wal-Mart.

           As a pastor, I’ve placed my hand on someone’s shoulder to pray for them and said something like “Oh, God, please bless … this wonderful person. Inwardly I also am praying “God, please help me to remember his or her name.” But the problem may not be all mine! Perhaps that person hasn’t been at church three Sundays out of four and they have been shoved out of my mind by their inactivity. It happens.

           In our text above, the One forgetting is Jesus who knows everything. When he says “I never knew you,” it doesn’t mean He has forgotten your name. The important thing is not that we know who God is, as is indicated in verse 22, but that He knows who we are (verse 23). He does not know us in a redemptive way.

           If you want God to remember your name, perhaps it would be a good idea to spend enough time with him so that you become familiar to Him.

Isa 49:16

16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;

Dear, let my name be ever before you. Write my name upon the palm of your hand. AMEN