I Was Hungry and You Gave Me Something to Eat

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 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, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me'” (Matthew 25:31-40).

“Whatever you did for one of least of these, you did for me.” Isn’t that wonderful? Would you like to do something for Jesus? Feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, invite strangers into your home, visit the sick, visit prisoners.

Suppose it is not Jesus you visit, but a con man or a thief. Have I ever been ripped off while caring for this kind of person? Yes, several times. However, the blessing of giving and receiving has been much greater than my negative experiences. The difficulty of this kind of giving is no reason at all to choose to be with the goats instead of the sheep.

*Excerpted from Being Christian. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

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