I hate time! I hate that my kids are getting older. So far two of my three children have had their birthdays pass without their dad being here. As excruciating as it was to face those dates, we have to do that for the rest of our lives. How is that encouraging? How is that truth supposed to make you want to keep going? Now they are starting a new school year, really? Call me crazy but I don't see how anything time has to offer me could be good.
What's up with the word mourning? It sounds exactly like morning as in, "Good morning." Why don't they call it something more fitting like, evening or utter darkness? How about the word widow? That's just an ugly word! Well I guess that one might be fitting since I feel very ugly right now!
So grief groups, time, stupid words, anything else roaming around in my mind tonight? Na' better not share too much!
I truly wouldn't wish this pain on anyone! I do wish people, myself included, cared more about the sufferings of others. How many times do I fix my eyes straight ahead of me when I notice a person holding a sign by the freeway? How often do let my thoughts wander, yet stayed mostly on myself, as I see so many other people with problems and pains.
Sure a buck for the homeless man and a quick assurance to myself that I can't solve other peoples problems gets me through the awkward moment but... then what? What happens next time you cross paths with the beggar or the person with issues? Someone will help them right? Right?
Matthew 25:31-46
Hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and in prison. Words we hope will never describe us as we try to avoid such destitute people. Have you seen the movie, A Christmas Carol? Not the newer versions that tell the story in animation or with puppets. That movie has been re-made so many times and every time it seems the story gets a lighter and more whimsical spin to it. I think the reason that movie has been re-made so many times is because the story makes people uncomfortable and with every new version we become dumber to the truths that sparked the story in the first place. There are such people all around us, people who are hungry and in need and we turn our heads and assume someone else will help them. What if we are the help and we turn away? What if God had intended us to see that person in need at that particular time and we did nothing? Well we know the answer to that if we would read Matthew 25:31-46.
Have you ever suffered so much or been so destitute that people wouldn't even look you in the eye? That's like kicking you when you're down. If you have to suffer at least let people see so they could be moved to compassion or moved to something! Do you know the magnitude of the sin that was placed on Jesus on the cross caused the Father to look away? You can't even imagine the pain that Jesus was suffering and then to have The ONLY One who ever knew Him, the One who truly Loved Him look away as He suffered, we can't even fathom the excruciating alone feeling that broke His heart as He died.
Don't look away from the least of these, they are God's vessels unto us. We are blessed as we serve them. We are not called to fix them but to lead them to the one who can bring healing and restoration. We can feed them, we can clothe them, we can visit them in prison. Why don't we do that more often? Maybe because we're too wrapped up in our own world. Maybe we are caught up in our mind, with thoughts of self continually, ignoring them because we can't see past the end of our noses?
Oh Lord forgive me again for my selfish thoughts! Help me to remember what You suffered for me on the cross all alone. You freely gave me forgiveness for the sins I deserved to be punished for. Help me to freely give. Lord only at the cross is there comfort and mercy and love. You paid it all for a world that crucified You. Help us to not be so wrapped up in our own little worlds that we forget that there is a world of suffering people in need. Let us be Your hands and feet, in Jesus name AMEN.
Matthew 25:31-46
New King James Version (NKJV)
The Son of Man Will Judge the Nations
31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy[a] angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
44 “Then they also will answer Him,[b] saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
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