Giving: Sheep vs Goats
In a time where masses of professing Christians are enamored with selfish increase, lust-driven satisfaction, and the hope of material gain, it’s so important that true believers & ministers of the Gospel continue to adhere to and spread the Truth like never before. Many are set & focused on gaining wealth & material luxuries for their own comfort to the point where helping the poor, the hungry, the orphans, the widows, those who are in need, that’s simply an afterthought if even a thought at all. The Bible says that when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with him, all the nations will be gathered before Him, and he will separate His sheep from the goats. Although many claim to be His sheep, hearing and heeding to His voice, this passage of scripture in Matthew 25 exposes the “goats,” pointing out a key distinguisher in His judgement towards us according to Jesus Himself–our ministry of love & giving towards the needy, towards strangers, & towards those who are sick & imprisoned. Many false teachers, false prophets, & false gospels today teach us, as believers, to pursue natural “elevation,” material comfort, and the notion that this is the equivalent and totality of God’s “blessing” in our lives, but Jesus taught us time and time again to give, to serve others, to sacrifice, to deny ourselves, and these lessons are being perverted, cast aside, and ultimately buried underneath the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, & the pride of life as we know them today.
The Word says in 1 John, “if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” and also in James, “if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” We must be diligent to use the resources that we’ve been given for His purposes and not ours, from the smallest to the least amounts–as the scripture says in Luke, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” When we forsake the heart of God and ignore the warnings that Christ Himself gave in the Bible in order to buy into the belief that our pampering is priority in salvation, that does not alter the truth nor the outcome, but it does possibly exposes us as goats rather than the sheep that we believe ourselves to be. Jesus continues on to say this:
The King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 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.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Meditate on these scriptures today and be encouraged to remain on the narrow path that leads to life. Blessings to you.
(I also spoke on this topic at length here:)
