I was walking down the street the other day when I saw this homeless woman with her children sitting in an alley. I was gonna give her some change for food after I got my large Chai tea, but they were gone when I came out.
I went to the grocery store, you know, to pick up a few things. There were two young kids, looking kind of strange, scrappy and cold, standing by the shopping carts. I was gonna say hello and ask them if they needed any help but I was so uncomfortable and in a hurry that I just put my head down and pretended they didn’t exist.
I was driving down the street and this old man in a beat-down jalopy cut me off and almost made me miss my light. When I reached him at the next corner, I noticed he was looking kinda sick. I was gonna keep my cool, but I had to tell him how he needed to stay off the road.
While I was at the library last time, there was this man with his son. The man was yelling at the boy so much that the guard had to tell the dad to be quiet or leave. I was gonna say everything will be okay to the father and son but I could tell they were both embarrassed so I let it go.
I just heard my brother’s best friend was convicted of involuntary vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced to six years in prison! I was gonna go see him but I figured he probably didn’t want me to see him locked up like that.
I was suddenly standing before Jesus, my life extinguished by a stray bullet with no one’s name on it but mine. I was so happy to see Him until I saw that sad look in His eyes. I said, “Lord, why are You crying? Aren’t You gonna let me in?” Jesus said, “I was gonna let you in My Kingdom but I can’t let it slide. See, I met you in the streets and you wouldn’t feed me or even say hello. I was a sickly old man and a young father dealing with a son, yet you found no occasion to show me compassion or love. And I sat in prison waiting for you to visit me but you never came. Besides all that, you wouldn’t accept my gift of salvation while you had the chance”. “Wait!”, I wailed, “When did I do all that to You?” He replied in the saddest voice I’ve ever heard, “When you did it to, in your opinion, ‘the little people’, you did it to Me.” “But now I know who you are!”, my scared voice croaked. “I realize you are God’s only Son and the only way to heaven. Only I had some more living I wanted to do then I was gonna…”
Matthew 25: 31-46 The Message
“When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.
“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.’
“Then he will turn to the ‘goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats! You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—
I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’
“Then those ‘goats’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn’t help?’
“He will answer them, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.’
“Then those ‘goats’ will be herded to their eternal doom, but the ‘sheep’ to their eternal reward.”
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