🌱 Seeds of Scripture

When Religion Is Not Relationship

Scripture

«“Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
Matthew 7:23»

The Surface Reading

These are some of Yeshua’s most sobering words.

But they become even more striking when we read what comes immediately before them.

The people standing before Yeshua aren’t saying:

“We rejected you.”

They are saying:

“Lord, Lord…”

They claim to have prophesied in his name.

Driven out demons in his name.

Performed mighty works in his name.

From the outside, these sound like deeply spiritual people.

Yet Yeshua says:

“I never knew you.”

How can someone speak his name, perform religious works, perhaps even appear powerful…

and still completely miss him?

A Deeper Look

Perhaps the key is hidden several verses earlier.

Yeshua says:

«“By their fruit you will recognize them.”
Matthew 7:20»

Fruit.

Not titles.

Not spiritual vocabulary.

Not public displays of power.

Not how loudly someone says “Lord.”

Not how impressive their ministry appears.

Fruit.

And throughout Yeshua’s teachings, the fruit of the Kingdom keeps appearing in remarkably ordinary forms.

Love.

Mercy.

Forgiveness.

Compassion.

Humility.

Generosity.

Justice.

Care for the forgotten.

Love even for enemies.

This makes the passage far more challenging than a simple warning about belonging to the correct religion.

Because these people apparently had the language of Yeshua without the life of Yeshua.

They knew his name.

But perhaps they never allowed his Way to transform them.

And notice something else.

Yeshua does not say:

“I knew you once, but then I rejected you.”

He says:

“I never knew you.”

In Scripture, “knowing” often carries a much deeper meaning than simply possessing information about someone.

It speaks of relationship.

Intimacy.

Union.

To know Yeshua, then, may mean far more than knowing doctrines about Yeshua.

It means walking his Way until his Way begins taking root within us.

The Uncomfortable Question

This passage invites us to examine something religion can easily hide:

Have I mistaken spiritual activity for spiritual transformation?

Someone can talk about love while treating people cruelly.

Preach forgiveness while carrying hatred.

Defend truth while becoming arrogant.

Speak constantly about God while ignoring the suffering person standing directly in front of them.

Yeshua repeatedly pulled spirituality out of abstraction and placed it into relationship.

Feed the hungry.

Welcome the stranger.

Forgive.

Give.

Love your neighbor.

Love your enemy.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Maybe that is why the warning is so severe.

The danger isn’t merely failing to say the right things about Yeshua.

It is invoking his name while becoming nothing like him.

🌱 A Seed to Carry

Perhaps the question isn’t simply:

“Do I know the name of Yeshua?”

But:

“Is the life of Yeshua becoming visible in me?”

Not through supernatural demonstrations.

Not through religious performance.

But through the way we love the person beside us.

Because the clearest evidence that we are walking with Love…

may eventually be that we become more loving.

🚶 A Walk in the Garden

Today, forget your labels for a moment.

Christian.

Mystic.

Spiritual.

Believer.

Whatever words you normally use.

Set them gently aside.

Then ask Father:

“If every spiritual label were removed from me, what fruit would my life reveal?”

Look at how you treat people who cannot benefit you.

How you respond when someone disagrees with you.

How quickly you judge.

How freely you forgive.

How deeply you listen.

How you treat the overlooked.

And especially…

how you love when loving becomes difficult.

Not as a test designed to make you afraid.

As an invitation.

Because perhaps Yeshua’s words were never intended to make sincere seekers terrified that they accidentally failed some hidden theological examination.

Perhaps they are meant to awaken us from the much greater danger of wearing his name without walking his Way.

Don’t merely speak of the Light.

Let it change the way you see.

Don’t merely preach Love.

Become more loving.

Don’t merely know about Yeshua.

Walk with him until his Way begins appearing in you.

Ashé.

Listen to our song “I Never Knew You” on YouTube