Who is Jesus talking about?

One of the topics that I am fairly certain will comprise several posts will be things that have bothered me, or are currently bothering me, in my experience in the church.

Here’s one of them:

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness’. (Matt. 7:21-23, NASB)

I cannot remember an instance where I heard this passage of scripture used to encourage me to look internally.  I can only remember hearing this passage applied externally – to those “outside the church,” however that was being defined by the persons quoting these words of Jesus.

So what bothers me is this – why do we sometimes seem to act so sure that these words don’t apply to us?

Is it possible that they do?

Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. (I John 3:4-10, NASB)

A reoccurring word in both the Matthew and I John passages that sticks out to me is “practices.”  So the question I must ask myself is: do I practice sin?  Am I allowing it to be a regular part of my life?  Or do I practice righteousness?  Not a man-made definition of righteousness, but rather one that is defined by God?

Do I elevate some sins above others and make those “greater” sins the ones Jesus is referring to, while writing mine off under grace in the same breath?  Do I forget the part about loving my brother in my quest to make sure I am righteous?

Am I doing the will of the Father?  Do I abide, do I remain in Him?  Or do I remain in sin while pretending to abide in Christ?

Maybe sometimes those words are meant for me after all.