I Never Knew You
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” — Matthew 7:21–23 I recently saw a post on social media that made a statement along the lines of, “If you know the Lord, you will be saved.” I responded with Matthew 7:23, and someone replied—paraphrasing—“So, you’re saying the Lord isn’t all-knowing?” No. That completely misses the meaning of the word know in this passage. There are different ways we use the word know even in everyday conversation. I “know” a lot of people. I know they exist. I recognize their names. I may know what they look like or know certain facts about them. But that is very different from saying that I truly know someo...
