The Least Of Them

What if we really saw THEM? What if we chose not to look past THEM? What if did not criticizeTHEM in order to make our disregard of their presence okay? What if we trusted God with THEIR motives? What if we didn’t sidestepTHEM on the sidewalks? What if we didn’t ignore THEIR phone calls? What if we didn’t pass on the opportunity to touch THEIR lives? What if we chose to empathize? What if we carried their burden with THEM?

Who are they? They are the ignored, the marginalized, the forgotten, the hurting, the needy, the lost, the sick.  They are the ones that need something from us that they can never pay back. As children of The Most High, we have been given the ministry of reconciliation; leading the lost back to a right relationship with our King. But how can they hear the message of the cross, when they have not seen a good picture of His love for them in the people that say they serve Him?

When my sons were small boys they had such compassionate hearts. When Joe was 8 years old, he cried when we drove through a skid row type area in Dallas; he wanted us to bring the homeless home with us. When Jeremy was around that same age, he saw a family’s house burned to the ground on the news and felt that we should clean out our whole house and give it to them. We nurtured their compassion and we were careful to teach them that this compassion was a necessary part of the gospel message. It is not by happenstance that they both care deeply for the souls of people AND for the lives of people.

Here’s the deal:  everything that we have and everything that we are can only be credited to The One who made us;The One who provides for us; The One who has gifted us. So … to complete the message of the gospel it is necessary that we not only live holy before men, but that we live before them in a way that says that we love them. We are not autonomous beings, though we live like it most of the time. It is not okay for us to hand out tracts to people and then treat them like they should fend for themselves. It is our duty, and it should be our joy as a part of the gospel message that we see them — really see them. They might need money; food; clothing OR they might need love, a hug, an encouraging word; prayer — but whatever the need is we should be standing ready to give or to be a connector as we preach the salvation message of the cross.

Don’t worry because He won’t call you to do anything at all without ensuring that you have the filling of the Holy Spirit to get it done!

The Body of Christ is powerful! We have within us the power to change the world; to bring life, hope and peace into the world. We should live our lives fully for Him as a blessing to the world; as messengers of both hope and salvation, so that when the end comes we will have exhausted the resources He placed in us to be a blessing in this world. Blessed to Be a Blessing!

What if I was ‘they’? What if you were ‘they’? What if HE were ‘they’?

The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ (‭Matthew‬ ‭25‬:‭40‬)