Feeling left out normally isn’t a pleasant experience.
But maturity tends to soften the blow by providing a more realistic perspective of a situation. Exclusion isn’t only something we learn to deal with. It often just becomes irrelevant.
But one thing is certain, the relationships we do choose to develop are sustained by reciprocity.
If they’re not, then they usually go south at some point, because the ground rules of healthy relationships are commonly established at their beginnings. For example, Jesus Christ insisted that His disciples help perfect the mutual nature of their relationship with Him. He said to them:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one who is doing the will of My Father who is in the heavens [shall enter]. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I shall confess to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from Me—you who are practicing lawlessness’” [Matt. 7: 21-23] [my emphasis]
γινώσκω: (gî-nōse-kō), have knowledge of, find out, learn, understand, perceive, discern, to have knowledge acknowledge, recognize, be very certain, remember
ἀνομία: (â’-nô-mîâ) wickedness, lawlessness, sin
Jesus demanded that my walk with Him take place on the same path that He’s on.
I can claim to know Christ, proclaiming everything He said. It might sound credible to the world, but if my words and actions don’t resonate with the Spirit Himself [see: Rom. 8:16], then perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised “on that day.”
If I didn’t practice what I preached, He’s gonna know about it.
He’s gonna know all about me for sure.
But He’s not gonna know me.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” [Matt. 7:24]