I’m sure that I’ve touched upon this subject earlier as well, but recently the Lord lead me to Matthew 25, when I was in a particularly unpleasant mood. After reading the portion where the sheep and goat are separated, I felt more disturbed and even complained saying I needed some cheering up, reading this portion is depressing me more! But the Lord prompted me to read it again and so I did. I will post the gist of it here:
Mat 25: 33-36: 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.'
Of course, we all know what he said to the goats….not very pleasant….When I first read this portion I was wrought with guilt…thinking this makes things worse, not only am I struggling with sin, I am also not doing any of this, I am not feeding the hungry of the world, I did not dress beggars or visit people in hospitals…definitely not prison…And that’s when I was asking the Lord for a more encouraging portion to read, he asked me to read it again and revealed to me a most liberating message in this portion. Although we see in
Matt: 25:40: And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
This clearly implies that the poorest or smallest of people are the most qualified for this help. However, the Lord told me that it does not rule out everyone else. Every deed that you do, every considerate and caring action that you do shows God’s love through you, and it does not necessarily have to be to complete strangers or random people. For example, if you have a friend who is sick, and you cook a meal for them, go visit them and help with their house work, that is still an act of love that God talks about in the portion. If you know that someone returning from work will be hungry, a neighbour or a relative, and you know that they have no one at home to prepare something for them, an act of love would be you making something for them. If someone you just met told you that they were new to the country or place, that they don’t have many friends and they are alone, if you invite them to your house and share a meal with them…that is an act of love. What God asked us to do in Matthew 25 is not just help the poor, who of course are the most deserving of our help, but He asks that we show His love, senseless, selfless love, that makes us go out of our way to make others happy or help them, even the poor, because true children of God cannot be comfortable when they see the need of others…that is not the nature of God. We see this in
Romans 8: 14: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
So if we are the children of God that we claim to be, we would be led by the Spirit of God, which would never allow us to be complacent to the needs and wants of others! If we are….then we are clearly not allowing ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit.
The good news here is that we don’t have to necessarily seek out poor people or complete strangers to show acts of love and share God’s love, we can do it with people we come across in our every day lives…neighbours, friends, new acquaintances, colleagues….so there are plenty of opportunities for us to make sure we act like sheep….and not end up as the goat being banished with the devil!!!
Let us pray to the Lord that He would bless us with this heart of love and the eagerness to share God’s love with everyone we can.
Today’s recipe is terribly simple and is excellent for people who suffer from a sweet tooth (like me), but are trying to get healthy!!
Chocolate Coated Strawberries
Ingredients:
Strawberries – 1 Punnet / box (250gms)
Dark Cooking Chocolate – 200gms
Skewer or stick – 1
Instructions:
1.Place chopped cooking chocolate in a bowl and melt in the microwave for approximately 1minute and 30 seconds. (Some cooking chocolate comes with specific melting instructions).
2.Pluck out the leaves, was and dry the strawberries.
3.Wrap aluminum foil around a plate or tray.
4.Prick the skewer into the wide end of the strawberry and dip into the melted chocolate to coat well.
5.Carefully remove the coated strawberry onto the foiled tray. Repeat this process till all the strawberries are coated and refrigerate the tray.
6.Can be snacked on when faced with sugar cravings :) !
7.The dark cooking chocolate can be replaced with less healthier options of regular cooking chocolate or white cooking chocolate.
No comments:
Post a Comment