The least of these.

May I have your attention for five minutes? I want to share something with you; I pray that it will move you just half as much as it moved me! 

“When it comes to helping people that ain’t got much, God didn’t leave no room for feelin led.

Jesus said God gon’ separate us based on what we did for folks that is hungry and thirsty, fellas that is prisoners in jail and folks that ain’t got no clothes and no place to live.  What you gon’ do when you get to heaven and you ain’t done none a’ that?  Stand in front a’God and tell Him, “I didn’t feel led”?

You know what He gon’ say?  He gon’ say, “You didn’t need to feel led ‘cause I had done wrote it down in the Instruction Book.”

Let’s be real.  A lotta folks on the list that Jesus calls “the least of these” ain’t the ones you gon’ find down at the country club.  No, most a’them’s the folks you gon’ find in the jail or in the street.  But we got to go to all the people—the rich, the poor, the lowdown, and the dirty—and show ‘em all we got the same thing for ever one of’em: the love a’ the Lord. 

I think part a’ this problem is that too many folks ain’t ready to face up to the fact that to love the unlovable, they got to face people that they fear.  They is afraid to get out of their regular livin space ‘cause they afraid it might be suicide, am I right?  ‘Cause you wouldn’t be scared a’nobody if you didn’t feel like they was gon’ do you wrong.

Most people want to be circled by safety, not by the unexpected.  The unexpected can take you out.  But the unexpected can also take you over and change your life.  Put a heart in your body where a stone used to be.”

‘Tis a passage from my latest ‘read’, What Difference Do It Make?*--See, loving God means loving people, and when we love people, we make a difference for God.  By the way, Friends, you and I are not given a choice about caring for the needy; we are commanded to take care of them, and we can’t sit around and let someone else do it.  A little known verse looms large in my mind—Sodom was a wicked city to be sure, but read what the prophet Ezekiel wrote about her demise: This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.  Ezekiel 16.49

You and I are to be God’s hands to the less fortunate—the poor, sick, hurting, homeless, widowed, imprisoned … I think of the expression that must have been on our Lord’s face when he said,

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; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. Jesus, Matthew 25. 

So what can you do?  After all, this is the time of year that we realize just how fortunate we are, and just how unfortunate are so many others around us, if we have but eyes to see.  Hmmm … first, pray that God will remove the blinders from your eyes and the calluses from your heart, so that you will see the plight of others.  You won’t be moved to godly action if you do not first see where compassion is needed. (Some of us might even need to start by asking God for forgiveness for not seeing the needy near us …) Then, look around—are you walking by a poor soul on your way to the office who could use a little love?  Could you take him for a cup of coffee, look him in the eye, and listen to his story?  That is where it all begins.  Care enough to truly see, and then do what you can to bless—to come alongside another person who is hurting, for one reason or another.

Why?  Because when you do it for the least of these, you are doing it for our Lord. 

Perhaps your circumstances prohibit you from hands-on serving right now … what then?  Support someone who is already serving the poor and hurting.  Several folks help support Pastorwoman Corp., (my ministry, and a 501-C3); that is how I take groceries to so many, buy Bibles, and help to meet some of the basic needs of those who need to feel God’s love in tangible ways.  Your contributions are tax deductible, you know.  I seldom mention money because it is unsavory to me, but honestly, if you give, more people will be served—like a Crip breaking from his gang, like a sobering Sam, and the Sanctuary crew who needs food and living supplies.  Or, how about the Salvation Army?  Join me in taking care of the least of these, won’t you?

Christine