The Four Words I Don't Want To Hear -- "I Never Knew You"

He spent the dawn’s early light walking, thinking, wondering.

He wondered why this particular message had to be so hard, so grievous. It had been months since he had stood behind a pulpit. Why couldn’t he have preached on something easier? Like love. Or faith. Or heaven.

But he knew today, if he would be faithful to what was on his heart, there would be no stories about lions and lambs, lying down in sweet bliss. There would be no parables about little children tugging at Jesus’ robe or girls filling their lamps with oil. This sermon wouldn’t be about gifts or fruits or thinking missionaly.

The small group instinctively knew it too. The weight of the message dripped like water on stones with every phrase.

“I must confess something,” this preacher, real and live said, the small group hanging on, “I admit that I’m afraid to meet Jesus. I don’t always understand His ways. I don’t fully comprehend His words.”

I thought to myself that I too am at times, afraid of His truth, His holiness, even His touch. The son of man, the son of God, is an enigma. I kind of like simple and this causes my thinking to be rearranged. He makes me uncomfortable.”

“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it,” the preacher said.

I can appreciate that. Can’t let everyone one. There has to be some criteria, right?

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven,” the speaker continued, his eyes narrowing through his round glasses.

I like Jesus’ answers about eternity, money and relationships. I like what he has to say about authority, work and caring for the poor. I appreciate his answers about evil, heaven and hell. But this ….

The preacher spoke each word of the passage slowly, almost painfully knowing the impact. “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 perform many miracles?’

This probes my conscious, stirs my soul, and shakes my presumptions. Could this be me?

The preacher read the passage about, uncertain that we would even receive it. “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me.”

But what about my church attendance and my tithes? I have hundreds of writings, 1,000’s of readers. People actually like me! They tell me I am a good man, that I’m a blessing. I talked about you to my friends. I studied you. What about all of that Christian stuff? Doesn’t any of it count?

“I never knew you.” These are the four words I don’t want hear.

So I’m thinking I need to have a little less doing, and a little more knowing.

Any ideas on how to get God to know me? I welcome your comments here.

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The four words I don’t want to hear — “I never knew you”