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Has anyone ever told you that you look a lot like one of your parents? Most children do resemble their natural parents at least a little.  And how many of us as parents have also hoped and prayed our children will only pick-up our good traits and instructions rather than our flaws, bad habits, and mistakes?

Several years back there was a commercial on tv with a young boy whose father catches him with illegal drugs. The father scolds him for it, then asks: “Where did you learn to do that?”  And the boy says, “I learned it by watching you, Dad!”

While preparing to teach Romans to our small group about the importance of obedience, I was led to consider 1 John 3: 1. It says: “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” The scripture goes on to explain the importance of being obedient to God in our behavior by abiding in Him. But as I prepared further I was also led to a scripture that has always made me uncomfortable and curious about its’ application.

It was In Matthew 7:21-23 where says: “not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!”  

If that scripture doesn’t scare you at least a little bit, you’re not reading the part where it says they were casting out demons and prophesying and doing all kinds of wonders, yet Jesus says he never knew them. How can that be? I would wonder. After all they must be believers if they can do all those kinds of things.

And that is when a new perspective on it came to me. When the light went on and I understood it.

This time, I saw the key words that make a difference. I read the clue at the beginning and end of that verse. Those people were not “doing” God’s word. They were practicing “lawlessness,” not obedience. And they obviously weren’t spending much time with God or seeking His guidance, or they would know and resemble Him and He would know them. Therefore, Jesus tells them “depart from me, for I never knew you.”

So, here’s what I saw this time. With the awesome privilege of being called the children of God, comes the vital importance of spending time with our Heavenly Father. That, much like children who spend a lot of time with their parents and learn to pattern after their behavior, we also need to spend a lot of time with our Heavenly Father so we can begin to know and resemble Him better.

And as we let Him cleanse us daily, and practice what we’ve learned from God, our actions will exhibit our faith in God, and we will be recognizable as Christians, (Christ like), not children of the devil practicing lawlessness.

But don’t misunderstand me in this point. I am not saying that we can earn our eternal life by obeying God’s law or by doing good things. Romans 3:11 says “There is none righteous, no not one.” And Romans 3:23 tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” It is only by what God has done for us through the sacrifice of His son Jesus, that we can have eternal life. “For by grace, through faith, you have been saved, and not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8)

The result of having a true faith means you want to please God. Being more Christlike is a sign of being born again and God’s Holy Spirit is within you. Spending time in the presence of Jesus  through prayer, reading and practicing His word will equip us to better understand and know the truth of who God is. And as we abide in Jesus, the fruit of the Spirit will be manifested in and through us with “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness,  gentleness, and self control.” Galatians 5:22

For as it says in Colossians 1:10, “that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” 

And much like the woman at the well who found herself in the presence of the Messiah and came to have faith in Him, we’ll not only have our thirst quenched, the water we’ll receive will flow into an everlasting and living water that carries us into eternity, (rather than being told to depart from Jesus because He never knew us).