Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Matthew 7:21 (CSB)
To call Jesus “Lord” means He is in charge of our lives.
Jesus says not everyone who calls Him Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. To enter the kingdom of heaven is to live with God forever.
Calling Jesus “Lord” is right, and every Christian should do it. But a person can say the words and not live by them. Jesus asked, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?” (Luke 6:46).
So who enters the kingdom of heaven? Jesus says it is “the one who does the will of my Father.” God’s will is what God wants. We learn what God wants from the Bible.
Jesus isn’t saying we earn heaven by being good. Nobody can do that. God saves us when we trust Jesus. He doesn’t save us because of good things we do. But God changes the people who trust Jesus. A person who really trusts Jesus starts doing what Jesus says. Obeying doesn’t save us. But nobody enters the kingdom of heaven without obeying, because real trust obeys.
Jesus also isn’t saying a real Christian never fails. We all still sin. When we sin, we should admit it to God and keep following Jesus. Jesus is talking about a person who keeps saying “Lord.” That person keeps ignoring what Jesus says.
Sometimes Jesus tells us to do something hard, like forgiving someone. What do we do then? We should obey Him, because that is what calling Him Lord means.
Jesus always did what His Father wanted. He obeyed His Father, even when it meant dying on the cross. He died for our sins and rose again. We enter the kingdom of heaven because of what Jesus did. And we should follow Him because we love Him.