“I Never Knew You”
“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.’”
These two verses help us answer the question of why the secret place matters. I did not see this until a few days ago while reading a parenting book with my wife by Danny Silk.
In chapter one, Silk says this about these two verses, “The way we live our lives shows Jesus the value we have for our connection with Him. He doesn’t want to control us, but He does want our love. He is not interested in us obeying Him when there is a punisher around, only to disregard Him when we think no one is looking.”
In these two verses, Jesus reveals to us that nothing we do for him will matter if it is done disconnected from him. If it is not motivated by love for God and from an overflow of intimacy with him, then it will not matter when we stand before him. What will remain is all that we did in loving partnership with him.
Earlier in the chapter, Silk talks about God’s bottom line or primary desire being love and connection, not compliance and obedience. Where there is growing love and connection, there will be growing compliance and obedience. That is why the secret place matters!
In the secret place, where we go to fellowship with God, we grow in love and connection. The fruit of ongoing growth in love and connection is ongoing growth in obedience. Remember Jesus' words in John 14:23, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
I would argue that there is no genuine and fruitful obedience apart from abiding. Apart from regularly withdrawing to the secret place. Why? In the secret place, we connect with God and hear his word. It is there that we learn to love his law and make it our delight all day long (Psalm 119:97).
It is there that we receive the daily cleansing of our consciousnesses by the sprinkling of Jesus’ blood that shuts the mouth of the accuser and reminds us of how God sees our pursuit of Him as real and genuine, even when it feels weak and immature. The secret place matters because it is where we grow in love and connection with our father. The fruit is obedience motivated by love.
I invite you to turn to 1 Corinthians 13 and read the first three verses. Pause and ask Holy Spirit to help you answer two questions:
What is motivating my pursuit of God? Fear of punishment or love?
What is motivating how I spend my time in the secret place? A checklist or connection?
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