PREPARING OUR HEARTS FOR EASTER: DAY 2

An article by Frank    No Comments

In the lead up to Easter we will be putting up a new lent devotion each week day. These devotions will also be available in the discussions section of our Facebook page and will be played on New Zealand’s Rhema.

In Matthew 25 and the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus presents a unique challenge to how we live our lives and our relationship with him. The words are unmistakable.

The sheep and the goats is a judgment story and those who find favour are those who have fed the hungry, given something to drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, taken care of the sick and visited the prisoner. To those who have done this he says “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

The challenge is there, as we serve the least in our society, we serve Jesus himself.

It is easy to get caught up in trying to do all the right things – reading our Bible daily, focused prayer, church attendance and the list goes on, yet find ourselves somewhat frustrated and feeling like God is far away. Here, the chief concern of Jesus is not how well I know the Bible, how often I attend meetings or even how focused I am when I pray –his own example of how to pray in Matthew 6 was something simple. I could do all these things perfectly, but still miss the central focus of Jesus in this parable – how I serve those in need.
Jesus is saying here that one of the concerns he wants us to have is service to those in need.

All of our towns and cities in New Zealand have social services that could use our help – food banks, city missions, meals on wheels, retirement homes. As we prepare our hearts for Easter, are we able to identify a bit of time in our lives that could be used to serve the least of these through some of those services?

Pray

Jesus, grant us the strength to not shy away from this challenge and when we live it out, may we meet you the one who dwells with those our society throws aside. May we know your closeness through our actions.

Amen