Pray out of love, not need

Mt 7:21-27Jesus said to his disciples:“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.Many will say to me on that day,‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?Did we not drive out demons in your name?Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly,‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came,and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.And everyone who listens to these words of minebut does not act on themwill be like a fool who built his house on sand.The rain fell, the floods came,and the winds blew and buffeted the house.And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

As I read this Gospel the first time today, I was as confused as those who say, “Lord, Lord”, and yet are refused entry into the kingdom of heaven. They have a pretty good list of accomplishments that were done in Jesus’ name, don’t they? Then why does Jesus say, “I never knew you?”

Then it occurred to me—were these deeds done in Jesus’ name for HIS sake, or for their own glory? How many of us have seen some difficult times and turned to God for deliverance, then once things were going good again, did we forget to pray in thanks or even acknowledge His presence in our lives? This is a relationship built on sand.

God will not be fooled. We must have faith based on a love for Him, not a fear for our own souls. I will admit that I have feared for my soul and the souls of those near and dear to me and many times I worshipped out of that fear. The more I feared the harder I prayed. The funny thing about prayer is that it strengthens our soul within us and increases our ability to hear the Holy Spirit. What Jesus told us, and what the Holy Spirit reminds me when I pray, “Be not afraid. I am with you, even until the end of the world.” And the more I pray, the less fearful I become and the more I feel I want to pray out of LOVE and GRATITUDE. I think that this is the attitude that Jesus is looking for in today’s Gospel. This is a relationship built on Rock.

For my part, I will try to pray when things are not so good, and I will try to remember to pray even harder when things are really good. This is love.