Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Matthew 25:34 NABRE
Jesus is sharing a vision of what has been thought of as the final judgement. The vision includes Him as judge, separating the righteous to the right and calling them sheep and the unrighteous to the left and calling them goats. All those sheep are called to be in the Kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Of course the goats are told to depart and enter eternal fire. In this vision those who are judged as righteous are told that they are righteous because they lived in such a way that demonstrates their love for those in need; they fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty. They took in the stranger, clothed the naked, and visited the sick, they even comforted those in prison. Serving their fellow human beings through acts of kindness and mercy has secured their heavenly inheritance. But they are surprised to learn in caring for those in need they cared for Jesus Himself. Paul tells us we are a part of the Body of Christ, Jesus tells us He is the vine and we are the branches, and here we learn when we are doing for those in need we are doing for Jesus. Jesus and we are very much in communion. Jesus is so committed to this communion that when we do for one another we are doing it to Him. Of course the opposite it true as well, when we ignore a fellow human being we are ignoring Jesus.
Do you want to serve and aid Jesus? Then do it for your neighbor, do it for the stranger, the hungry, the naked, the ill, the homeless, the imprisoned. When we are serving others, we are very directly helping Jesus.
Do you love God by loving others? Do you see everyone else as Jesus?
Jesus and we are very much in communion. Jesus is so committed to this communion that when we do for one another we are doing it to Him. Click To Tweet#bible #godisgreat #jesus #christianity #dailybibleverse @youversion #BeAnEncourager #serve #inherit #Matthew #everybodyalways #god #jesuschrist #jesussaves #godisgood #dailydevotion #biblestudy #scripture #bibleverse #verseoftheday #pray #prayer #goodnews #loveeachother #godisgreat #thisVineyard #youversion #everythingalways