21 “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. 22 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?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ -ESV

I broke out in tears because I had a mental image of a loved one who has misused Christ---has given false prophesies, has done all these things in Jesus name. In my mental image, I saw this person at the judgement seat crying, naming all the things they have done and gnashing their teeth, pleading with Christ--- and being told depart from me.  My spirit is grieved to think of the gravity of this situation.  I have never been one to judge where one stands with Christ. I would even have probably thought just if they confessed Christ and still lived a non fruitful spiritual life, they would still enter heaven, and they still might that is between God and the individual.  But I fear for those who profess another Christ, whose fruits are not from spiritual testing, but manufactured masquerades -- those who use God as a tool to gain power to exalt themselves.  Also, I fear for those who just cling onto a salvation profession  as a  hell safety net, who really have no clue about the person of Christ.   

If we all were just pew warmers, would we affect change in peoples lives?  This is a question I have been asking myself for a while.  I got my answer also on Sunday.  To give a little background, When I was very young, my birth mother abandoned me and my sister to follow her lifestyle of a roaming alcoholic, free-spirited hippy.  My father remarried and then left us with his second wife.  Now as family stories are handed down, my birthmother was extremely intelligent, but had a seriously troubled childhood.  With that background in mind, I now can go to future times! I visited my grandmother and she, like most elderly people, loves to tell stories of the past.  She has told me little bits here and there about my birthmother. Being in such a small town, she knew the family.  What I didn't know is that my grandmother RENTED from my birthmother's grandmother!  So Grammy was telling me of all the horrible things my mother's mother did, the bars she drug my mother into as a small child, how my birthmother had to sleep on top of the same bar her mother was getting wasted at.  Then, my grandmother started talking about a conversation she had with her landlady, my great-grandma-- how horrified and grieved  she was over her daughter and what she had put her children through.  Grammy then added " I didn't say anything or do anything cause that was family business. I didn't want to interfere."  I was stunned!  My grandmother didn't want to interfere, even though my birthmother was extremely bright and could have had a fighting chance if someone would have intervened!  I know that generation of Americans didn't step into family problems, but many lives could have been turned to be much better than they are. 

And as angry as I am with the non interference of Grammy, I find that I am a hypocrite.   There have been times i felt i should step in and have not.  My current lifestyle shows that---hermitism does not glorify God.   I no longer can justify my inactivity, knowing that small interventions make humongous results.  So if everyone was a pew warmer, it would affect lives, negatively.   We all have some small gifting, even if its scrubbing a toilet, complimenting someone, starting conversation, baking a cookies, etc---SO USE THEM!