Away From Me

Yesterday, someone I love dearly reduced me to a sobbing wreck. She said this, “You want to know why people are attracted to you? It’s because you love them so much and they can see that.” Well, what a stunning and unbelievable thing to say. If only it is true and people can see Jesus in me. Oh wow – let me never lose that Lord.

But as I sat in front of my computer, weeping quietly, I heard Him say this, “These tears of yours are partly the joy of knowing fellowship with me, of knowing that you are beginning to reflect My love. These tears, though, are also reflecting My tears for the lost – especially for those who maybe really do think they are saved yet I do not know them and one day I will have to say that to them.” Can you ever imagine that – that one day the Lord may say to you, “Away from me. I never knew you!”

I recently wrote that we must save ‘the saved’ as well as saving the sinner. If we see a brother or sister to whom we genuinely believe the Lord might say, (Matthew 7:23 NIV) “Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'." That is when we have to say something – we MUST rescue and restore them.

Very good words but just who are we talking about? Well, I also heard this story recently. A friend of mine tells of a lady who was, and still is, a regular church go-er. This lady was a fairly typical ‘formal’ church attendee – she carried big Bible, always wore a big cross prominently round her neck. She was a choir member and has attended the same church for quite a few years. One day she was told about the son of a fairly close friend who had been to a meeting, had gone forward, prayed the ‘Sinners Prayer’, and had gotten himself saved. To her own and her pastors everlasting shame she had reacted with the following. “Saved? What’s saved?”, she said. Three absolutely damning and devastating words. It is of no surprise therefore that we need to save the ‘saved’ as well as saving the sinner.

“Saved??? What’s ‘saved’? “ – ‘Saved’ is walking and living in a personal relationship with Jesus. A personal relationship – like that with a close friend. Someone you talk to and listen to; someone you trust; someone who never lies to you; someone who loves you unconditionally. Closer than a brother. That is being saved. Yet how many more men and women, apparently ‘of God’, are there who really have never truly been saved – maybe have never even heard the Gospel as it has never preached in their church. Men and women who faithfully come to church week in and week out. Yet men and women who know nothing of a personal relationship with God – who have never prayed the sinners prayer – who have never been told of the need for personal repentance? Men and women who, maybe deliberately or maybe un-knowingly treat their local church as a members only club of good, well intentioned people. People who may ultimately be on their way to hell with those dread words ringing in their ears - “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!.”

The Lord weeps as many tears over these as over the other lost people who know nothing of Him – who have rejected Him. He reminds us today that, when Jesus comes, He will judge the Church first so that His Bride may actually be perfect and spotless. He will clean his Church, then claim His bride, then judge the rest of the world. Oh I don’t pretend that this is escatalogically correct – I have no idea of the sequence of end-times and, while we are here, I see no reason whatsoever for all the conjecture on it all. God alone knows the day and time. All we need to know is that we have an amount of time and that only before Jesus returns for us. It may be today or tomorrow or the next day or sometime later. Who knows except God the Father? Yet what about all those who may miss the boat? God’s tears testify to His love for them and for His desire that ‘none should perish, but all should have everlasting life.’

Oh Lord, heal our smug self-satisfied attitude. Fill us all with Your love for the lost. Give us all some of Jesus’ love for all men – to love the sinner but to hate the sin.