"Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said to Him, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you." Matthew 21:31

Jesus tells the tale of two sons.  Each of the sons was asked by their father to go to the vineyard and work.  The first son said he would go but never did.  The second said he wouldn't but later changed his mind and went and worked.  They both knew their fathers will, but only one did it.  The Pharisees were a picture of the first son knowing what God wanted and even teaching it to others, but not living it themselves.  The second son was a picture of the sinners who had went off to do their own thing, but turned to the Lord doing His will.  Jesus was clear the tax collectors and prostitutes would be entering Heaven because they did the will of the Father.

The churches are littered today with many who know God's will, but refuse to do it.  Like the Pharisees they come to church and leave feeling justified and good about themselves, but inside they are full of dead men's bones.  They have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof; they produce no fruit for the Kingdom of God, even though they know the will of God.  On the other hand there are those who have lived a life of sin making no pretences about it, and they reach a point in their life when they see themselves as they truly are without God, wretched and lost.  This second group of people understands that on their own they have no hope; they have put their trust in Jesus.  This is the group that surrenders to Jesus, and their life produces fruit for the Kingdom of God.  This group has received a new heart, with new desires.  This group is dependent on the power of God to actively live a life that is pleasing to their Lord and Savior.  What group do you find yourself in today?  Do you know God's will and profess to do it, yet live according to your own standards and desires?  What does the mirror of God's Word reveal about your life?

"For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was." James 1:23-24