Matthew 25:34-40

Matthew 25:34-40

At that time the king will say to the ones at His right hand, “Come, ones who have been blessed by my Father.  Inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you all from the foundation of the world.  For I hungered, and you gave something for me to eat.  I thirsted, and you gave something for me to drink.  I was a foreigner and you gathered me in.  I was naked and you clothed me.  I was sick and you looked after me.  I was in prison and you came to me.”  Then, the righteous ones will answer while saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and we fed you or while being thirsty and we gave you something to drink?  And when did we see you as a foreigner and we gathered you in or naked and we clothed you?  And when did we see you sick or in prison and we came to you?”  And the king who answered will say to them, “Amen I say to you all, in as much as you all did to one of the least of these – my brothers – you all did to me.”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

One of the often forgotten things within this section of scripture is the note that Jesus gives us about the preparation of the kingdom.  The kingdom has been prepared since the foundation of the world.  God created the world with eternal life in mind.  He created the world with the desire to spend eternity with it.  That’s God’s intention.  That’s God’s perspective.  We think about today and maybe tomorrow.  God thinks about forever even as He begins.

What does it meant to you to know that God’s desire was for eternity from the very beginning?  How can this be a point of joy for you?

Second Thought:

What I love about the righteous ones is their surprise.  They genuine don’t know when they were serving the Lord.  They weren’t obedient to God because God was watching them; they were obedient to God because it is who they genuinely were.  They were being a follower of God regardless of whether God was looking or not.  This is how we should live.  Of course we should be true to ourselves and never put on a façade.  This is what Paul is talking about in Galatians 2 when He speaks about being crucified with Christ.  Being a follower of God isn’t about putting on a show to cover up the darkness within.  Being a follower is about letting go of the darkness so that God’s light comes in and then goes out into the world.

When is your life a façade?  Where are you actively living out your faith?  Where in your life are you going to be surprised because you are just being a follower of God and demonstrating Christ’s love for us without even thinking about it?

Third Thought:

Of course we know the reply to the surprise of the righteous ones.  The king says, “Whatever you did to the least of these, you did to me.”  We know that reply so well that we can repeat it without even thinking about it.  However, notice especially that the king says that the least are his brothers.  That should cause us to pause for a second.  How many of the wealthy and powerful human beings in the world call the least in the world their brothers – and actually mean it?  Yes, there are a few.  But honestly they are very rare.  Here we see the difference between God and humanity.  God doesn’t judge us by our position, status, wealth, or station in life.  God knows a brother not by what they look like or sound like but by their heart.  That is indeed a king worth serving!

Do you feel conviction reading this point?  How good are you at considering the least in this world your brothers and sisters?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 25:41-46