Not everyone who calls out to me, “Lord! Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my father in heaven will enter. Matthew 7:21
Kings and queens, with their colorful pageantry and coronations, are still fascinating to us in this meta-modern age.
There’s one King who rules a kingdom today that’s both “already on earth” and “yet to come.” On the robe of this King and on His thigh “he has this name written: King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16 NIV). He is the “blessed and only Sovereign” (1 Timothy 6:15 ESV). This King is Jesus.
Many people’s prayers are filled with requests that King Jesus help things go well in their own, personal little kingdoms. Of people like this, Jesus said: “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my father in heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21).
What does doing the will of King Jesus look like? Letting Him rule in me means that I live according to His Kingdom laws. But so much more than religious dos and don’ts, doing the will of King Jesus means that I live a “one another life.”
Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you: Love one other as I have loved you” (John 13:34). I’m living the “one another life” when I think about you, rather than me. When I love you, when I bear with you, when I accept you, care for you, serve you, and comfort you (Colossians 3:13, Romans 15:7, 1 Corinthians 12:25, Galatians 5:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:13). There are more than 50 scriptures in the Bible that lay out for us what “one another living” looks like![1]
King Jesus went first in loving us. He went first in living this “one another life” by giving Himself for us. He’ll enable us to live in the way of His Kingdom when we ask.
[1] The “One Another” Passages. mmlearn.org/hubfs/docs/OneAnotherPassages.pdf.
