31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
—The words of Jesus from Matthew 25:31-40
“Love” can seem like a hard thing to talk about.
If I cup my hands together and hold them up high, I could tell you that I am holding some “love” in my hands. But, because you can’t see “love” the same way you can see one of your most prized possessions, you can’t really tell whether I have “love” in my hands or not.
But, do you know what? You actually can see “love” every day. That’s right. Every single day, each one of you sees examples of “love.”
Last night, or early this morning, when you finished your bath or shower and grabbed a nice soft towel to dry off with, did you realize, when someone washed that towel and placed it there for you to use, that was an example of “love.”
This morning, when someone made a nice breakfast for you, did you realize that was an example of “love?”
Even if you did these things for yourself, they were acts of “love.”
When you came to church this last weekend, and you sat down in a freshly dusted pew, or walked along the hall with a nice clean floor, the fact that one of your church staff members, or maybe a volunteer, had carefully cleaned the church so you could worship there, that was an example of “love.”
Everywhere we look, we can see examples of people’s “love” for us. Every act of kindness, every carefully prepared meal, every single thing anyone does for us that helps us, shows us “love.”
Likewise, if we have an opportunity to do something for someone and decide not to do it, that decision keeps us from showing “love.” When someone asks you to do something and you decide not to do it, in that moment at least, you decide not to show “love.”
Now in many cases, it may seem that showing “love” is really hard. But, all you have to do to show “love” is to do whatever that person asked you to do. So, showing “love” really isn’t that hard at all.
God has shown His love for us, by sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be our Savior. God expects us to show Him our love, by giving our “love” to others. When we say a kind word to someone, we show them our love and God’s love, too. When we help someone, we show them our love and God’s love, too. When we gladly do what someone asks us to do, we show them our love and God’s love, too.
So the lesson for today is that God expects us to show Him our love, by showing love to others.
Will you pray with me?
Thank You, God, for loving me. Thank You for letting me show You my love by doing loving things for others. In the magnificent Name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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