You Did It to Me

June 1, 2023

Then the King will say to those on his right, “Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

     “I was hungry and you fed me,                                                                                                                                                                                                           I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink,                                                                                                                                                                                               I was homeless, and you gave me a room,                                                                                                                                                                                         I was shivering, and you gave me clothes,                                                                                                                                                                                           I was sick, and you stopped to visit,                                                                                                                                                                                                     I was in prison, and you came to me.”

“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, “Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?” Then the King will say, “I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.” Matthew 25:33-40 MSG

Reading the Bible will be a very informative and enlightening experience if we read intently and drop our filters, reading as if we are reading for the first time. We will find many differences between what commonly captures our interest and what God sees as most important.

For instance, much conversation among Christians centers around prophecy, end times, what the end of the world and the afterlife will be. Yes, there are some hints in the Bible, but not much gives us absolute clarity, even though entire movements are built around discussions and disagreements about what will happen, when it will happen, and more.

While I appreciate Daniel and John and a few others who shared prophecies recorded in the Bible, those prophecies are difficult and subject to interpretation that varies some with the passage of time. Personally, I believe that since Jesus is God Himself, anything He directly said to us can be taken to the bank. His statements about the end are hard to misunderstand. His words recorded by eyewitness like Matthew give me more than enough to impact and shape my life until He comes again, whenever, and however that is. He says that when I have the opportunity to see Him face to face, the thing on my mind will be how did I treat the needy? Did I act in the same manner I would treat Jesus, if that lonely, needy person was Him in the flesh? The welcome into God’s forever Kingdom will be most powerfully impacted by the way I loved and compassionately served the least of these. The King of that Kingdom said so. Now, that’s a prophecy I should take to heart.

• Jesus, help me develop the compassion to see You in every pair of eyes.