Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 7:21

In the fullness of the Kingdom, only one thing matters.  Just one focus, just one gaze, that upon the King.

As we look upon His face, and believe in His love, we see Him, and, in seeing Him, we give ourselves away.

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

1 Corinthians 13:5

Love does not seek her own.  She lays down her life, she seeks the will of another.

Love, the love of the cross, speaks to us again and again.  We stand holy, but only because of the blood.  Had not the Israelites applied the blood to their doorposts and lintels, they too would have died on the first Passover.

When we know Him, we must give ourselves to Him, for God is love, and apart from Him, there is no other.

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1 John 4:7-8

When we do not submit our gifts to Him, and do not yield our entire hearts and wills to Him, everything we can do is selfish.  When we fail to learn to abide, day by day, learning obedience by the things we suffer, we fail to make Him our lead.  We may see some fruitfulness, we may be His, but only those works coming from a pure heart, those originating from Him within us, are pure.

Consider this.  Jesus said that if we give even a glass of water in His name to one of His disciples, we will not lose our reward.  What is it about God, that He would consider such an act as that, so simple and humble a thing, to be of any merit whatsoever?  Because, that which is done in a pure heart out of obedience to the Spirit demonstrates the pure faith and true life of the Spirit within us.

Jesus asks us to lay our self down.  He has asked us to dig deep within us.  We may fail at a thousand things, but He said that the real work of God is simply to believe in Him (John 6:29).

Gifts will come, and callings will be made known, but it is simply the heart of faith, working in love, that delights the Father.

But many, according to scripture, although they profess they to know Him, fail to love Him.

Though they do might works in Jesus’ name, and even cast out demons (even Judas cast out demons), many only ever did anything for anything other than love.  But, love lays itself down, and seeks no record of wrong.  It does not envy, it does not boast.  It never fails.

Yet, for those who fail at everything else, due to failings of the flesh and inability to get past the brokenness of their own life in their soul, yet do even the smallest gesture out of Jesus’ heart within, He promises, we will not lose our reward.  We are responsible for what we know and we have, but for those who, failing everything else, do love with the little they do have, through faith, they have their reward in full.

Let us endeavor to enter in the narrow way, with a whole heart.  Let us seek and pursue purity with all abandon.  Let us never turn back, or compromise, or do anything to compromise our walk.  For our God is a consuming fire, and He is a discerner of hearts of men.  Yet, He is humble, gracious, and compassionate for all those who truly seek after Him with a whole heart.

Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Luke 13:24 NASB