If a man keeps on knocking, the door will be opened
Is any of you likely to give his child a stone if they ask for a loaf?
Is he likely to give them a snake if they ask for a fish?
If the, you being an evil and ungenerous as you are, you know how to give children good gifts, how much more can you depend on your father in heaven, to give good things to those who ask him for them?
...be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.
...He makes the rain to fall on the good and the bad.
There are so many things in our lives that we could ask our Father for help with and yet we do not avail ourselves of Him. What burdens do we constantly carry that are impossible to shed by ourselves? We are no better than the little child who is hungry who will not or is afraid to ask for something to eat! He will not give us guilt when we ask for victory over the enenmy within! He will with great joy give us the things we need if we are diligent enough to ask for them... and to keep asking for them.
Another thought that is striking to me is the blessed responsibility we have to our brethren in Christ... to all of our fellow man. We should be looking to good to those who ask of us. We should do good to those who do not deserve it just for the simple fact that our father has done so and will continue to do so even though there is no response.
I will continue to let people in while driving even though a portion of them will not even give a response of thanks. I will do so because my Father in heaven cares enough to supply their basic needs by giving them water.
It is not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord" who will get into the kingdom of heaven. It is the man who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
On the great day there will be many who say to me,
"Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in you name?
Didn't we eject evil demons in your name?"
When that happens, I will tell them straight: You are complete strangers to me! Get out of my sight! Your deeds were sins!
So, once saved; always a spot in heaven, eh? Our father is looking not for good deeds and mighty works, although they are a by product. What he wants is unbridled, unrestrained passion to love him with all our hearts. If our hearts are there in heaven with him, if our treasure is to pursue him as a lover would swim the deepest ocean for the one they love, (song by Third Day) then we will ask him what he would have us to do and we will do it. If we can not find the strength to do it, he will forgive us as we confess our lack and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
He who began a good work in us WILL COMPLETE IT!
Jesus loved his father so much he did more than swim the deepest ocean which is a mighty feat. He left the grandeur of heaven where he was the very mouth of God, to become a comparably pitiful human. He constrained himself to time and space, leaving the very presence of the Father he loved because he asked him to. He did that because God so loved us; he did that because he himself loved us. He became the author and finisher of faith.
So, what is our response to this amazing love? Good deeds? The psalmist wrote, "My child, give me your heart." Our father would have us do great things but not without a heart that is burning for him. And if our heart does not yet burn, all we need is to ask for one. It might not happen today or tomorrow as we would hope. But it will happen if we persist in our request for that heart. In the meantime, we must do what we can with what we have. He has given us so much already.