What’s Important to God?
What’s important to God?
Matthew 25:35-36 ‘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.’
Mathew 25:45 He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
· Feed the hungry.
· Give drink to the thirsty.
· Make the stranger feel like family.
· If someone needs clothes give them clothes.
· Watch after the sick.
· Visit those that are in prison.
Christ actually says that those who don’t do for one of the least of these will go away to eternal punishment. We don’t hear this preached in our churches very often. We repeatedly hear how Christ loves everyone and if you will just accept him as your savior then you will spend eternity with him in heaven. Have we missed the mark on the message of the gospel? Have we sold an easy Christianity, one where you can add Christ like a new I-phone app? Going to him only when we think he has something to offer us, and then just living the rest of our lives however we want. It seems to me that being a follower of Christ comes with a price and I don’t mean in the way of a weekly fee that we put in the offering plate. If we read the gospel, and actually pay attention to it, it seems pretty clear that Christ has expectations for those who follow him.
Go to church, read your bible, pray… we have diminished being a disciple of Christ to 3 easy steps. All three of these ARE important and essential to a healthy relationship with Christ, but to be brutally honest that’s the easy part. It doesn’t require a lot of commitment, perhaps just one hour a week followed by 5 minutes a day. That sounds more like an easy work out plan than it does a life changing relationship with Christ. How about doing something for Christ that entails benefiting someone other than you?
In Matthew 25 Christ talks about the parable of the talents. Christ instructs them to throw the worthless servant, the servant who did not use the talents that the master gave him, outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
I believe with all of my heart that salvation is a free gift; however, if we choose to accept that gift we must be willing to accept the responsibilities that come with it. Faith is not an emotion. It goes, it does, and it serves. Faith is an action. Faith and actions work together. Our faith is made complete by what we do. (James 2:22)
