I know a fair amount about President George W. Bush. He is the son of former President George Herbert Walker Bush and is now married to Laura, and they have young adult twin daughters. I also know that in his youth, George W. Bush was a little wild and crazy, and that a conversation with evangelist Billy Graham played a part in him getting things right spiritually. Not only do I know all this, but when the Southern Baptist Convention met in Texas back in 1997, then Governor Bush made an appearance to welcome us to Dallas. When he was done, I made my way backstage and was able to chat briefly with him and shake his hand.
Even though all that’s true, I really can’t say I know President Bush. Not only that, but I’m sure if someone mentioned my name to him, he’d respond by saying, “Who?” Likewise, many church members and cultural questions “know” Jesus in the same way I know the President, and this is nothing short of tragic.
In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus warned of the awful fate of people like this: “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.’”