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KJV
Matthew 25:31-46
31.
When the Son of man shall come in his glory,
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit
upon the throne of his glory:
32.
And before him shall be gathered all nations:
and he shall separate them one from another, as a
shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33.
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand,
but the goats on the left.
34.
Then shall the King say unto them on his
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world:
35.
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I
was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger,
and ye took me in:
36.
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye
visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying,
Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or
thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38.
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee
in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39.
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and
came unto thee?
40.
And the King shall answer and say unto them,
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it
unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have
done it unto me.
41.
Then shall he say also unto them on the left
hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42.
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat:
I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43.
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in:
naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison,
and ye visited me not.
44.
Then shall they also answer him, saying,
Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did
not minister unto thee?
45.
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I
say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of
the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the
righteous into life eternal.
I submit to any
Christian, regardless of denomination, that there is
no way you can read these verses and not understand
that we must feed the hungry, and give drink to the
thirsty. We must take in strangers, we must
cloth the naked, visit the sick and the
prisoners. I will write more on this
later. God is definitely dealing with my heart
right now on these specific verses, as well as the
section below this. But I can say this, about
myself, I have been very delinquent in paying proper
attention and respect to these admonishments of
Jesus. But I thank God he calls these things
to mind, so as to change my heart. Thank you
Jesus for everything. Glory to God's Name
Forever!
Ever since I gave a
devotion on charity at Shepherd's Fold Church, this
has been on my mind. Speaking for myself, I'm
simply not in any way living up to these
verses. I can't very well be admonishing
others with a free heart if I'm not practicing it -
- wouldn't that make me a hypocrite? I
remember how I used to talk on Charity and helping
others, how I used to wish aloud that we could bring
some of the love and caring that I felt in that
church beyond the physical walls of the
church. In my heart I felt love and
charitable, but I find that, a couple months later,
that those feelings haven't translated into actual
works. I've visited a nursing home a time or
two, but I've never visited a prison in my
life. I've never actually done much of
anything to help a homeless person, or a hungry
person. Or an oppressed person. I found,
when I started looking, that I couldn't hardly give
to any international charity because of fears of
most of the dollars going to the bureaucracy of that
charity and not the people needing assistance.
I couldn't find very much need, because I just
didn't look in the right places. And I just
didn't look very hard, I don't think. Well
folks, that's changing. I can't read these
verses with a clean conscience, that bothers me (And
Thank God it does, I'd hate to have a hardened
heart!) I'm gonna do something, because I have
to do something. I'm tired of excuses in
myself. So I'm looking for ideas. And
I'm gonna throw out a few for you to consider
also. stay tuned, I will write more on this in
the near future.
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