Matthew 25, part 2

OK, so this chapter is just flat out challenging. I don't care who you are, this is one of Jesus' "hard sayings." So as much as the two parables smack me, it's the ending that hits home the hardest.

I know He mentions sheep and goats, but this part really doesn't fall into the category of parable. This is legit. Jesus Christ is literally hungry, thirsty, naked, and in prison all over the world. And His Father is going to ask us, along with "all the nations" to account for whether or not we did anything about it.

I hear people whining sometimes about why God lets bad stuff happen. I think in this passage, He is implying that He has more of a right to ask us that. The "least of these" are everywhere we turn. The physically starved along with the spiritually starved. Those without clean drinking water and those who need a dose of His Living Water. Those humiliated in sex slavery and those whose emotional past is laid bare in shame. Those in my county jail and those who are prisoners to sin.

God, this week as I take a break from my regular grind, let me not take a break from caring for the poor. Lord, send me into the path of the least of these. I want to serve you.