Matthew
25:34-45 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are
blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the
world. For I was hungry and you gave me
something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a
stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit
me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry
and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a
stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe
you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit
you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of
the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' “Then he will say to
those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are
cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the
devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you
gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to
drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and
you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after
me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help
you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of
the least of these, you did not do for me.’
I was going to just talk about the first
part of this portion of scripture that came to my mind today. Then the I was
'gently corrected'.... so you have the full meal deal in front of you. I make
jest, but this is not an easy topic to read or to write about, because it really
involves the heart. So be prepared...
We all know John 3:16 - I want
to focus on 'For God so loved the
world...' Now I'm pretty sure He didn't mean the oceans, the continents,
the ozone or lack of it... ok, moving right along... What I'm saying is that He
love people. Father
meant the WHOLE world. His love is there for ANYONE - it is freely given - no
strings attached.
'You mean, he loves the person
who cut me off on the way home from work?' Yep. 'How about the person who broke
into my home and stole all my copper piping?' Yep. 'Ok, how about murderers and
rapists?' I'm afraid so. 'Alright, surely He can't love those who hunt
Christians down to kill them - like those Muslim extremists - you can't mean
them, right?' Well, what was Paul doing before he 'saw the Light'. God turned
him around and look what happened... everything about him did a 180. His name
even changed!
A couple days ago, I said that
being a friend means putting action to your words. Sometimes very practical
action. Visiting people in jail or giving away food or clothing to someone in
need. We may be tempted to sometimes ignore even those we considered friends
when they're put away in prison for years or when their hardship lasts longer
than what our patience does or when they move away and aren't in our 'field of
view' any longer. Those are the times they really need friends.
Or sometimes, we may be tempted
to think, it's not that bad or that someone else is probably handling it. Maybe
it's someone who hasn't been to church for a weeks - maybe their known to be
alcoholic or just a drifter... 'they're not really committed'.... or just maybe
they're sick or they're going through some very deep painful issues... do we let
them know we noticed they weren't there.
'Oh, come on, Jesus going THAT
far.' Isn't He? In James 1 He says that 'religion that God our Father accepts
as pure and faultless is this - to look after
orphans and widows in their distress... how do
we know someone is hurting if we don't ask.
What DID Jesus do? He hung
around thieves and sinnes... He forgave prostitutes and healed their souls. He
spent His life on sinners like us.... like 'them'. When we do it for 'them', in
essence, we are doing it for Jesus as if He was standing right in front of
us.
Jesus / Father God calls
us friend when we do what He did.
I was just 'reminded' by a
Keith Green song. Warning: This may produce tears.
No comments:
Post a Comment