![[Photo of a Scripture verse]](https://www.deankwilson.com/Blog_images/Matthew_25_31-46.jpg)
| “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” |
| —Matthew 25:40 |
Did you ever think about the fact that the way we express our love will ultimately separate us from other people? I know that may seem like a bit of a strange assertion. But, that is exactly what Jesus taught His disciples, as recorded in Matthew 25:31-46:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 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. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“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. 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, 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.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
When God sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to earth in order to inhabit a human body and, ultimately, die in our place on Calvary’s cruel cross of torture, God did so because of His great love for us. A natural outgrowth of God’s love imbued into us is for us to show His love in the way we treat others.
It’s not that love has more importance than God’s holiness or His justice. Rather, it’s that love—God-breathed love—is the natural outgrowth of His holiness and His justice. We can’t ignore those important qualities from which God’s love springs forth. Nor can we place ourselves as representatives of God’s holiness and justice without also striving to allow His love within us to motivate our behavior toward others.
As we begin a new day, let’s look around us at a world in need and find ways to reach out to those in genuine need with our hearts filled with God-breathed love. If we do so, we will be acting toward these ones in God’s behalf. And, that, dear ones, is a very, very good thing.
