Tuesday, January
1, 2019
“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. “Then 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 creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’ “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46(NLT)
Any time there is a knee-jerk
reaction, something gets pulled out of joint!
Growing up in the 60’s I was part of that “hippie” generation that
dropped-out, got high, and generally distrusted and rejected everything anyone
over 30 had to say. That certainly
included Grandma’s church and the God who was a stern Judgment Day
buzz-kill. We knee-jerked all the way to
the Jesus-freak syndrome, where it’s all about love (just ask John Lennon,
he’ll tell you all you need is love).
And God, if he or she did really exist, could never be unloving enough
to send anybody to hell.
Pulling-back from the hypocrisy of
a materialistic-minded generation wasn’t all bad, but laying around smoking
dope, popping pills, or swilling as much alcohol as you could before you
dropped off to that blessed stupor, and waking up to the early afternoon
hangover, while you tried to figure out where the next party was going to
happen…well, that is hardly a sustainable lifestyle. Knee-jerks are rarely long-term solutions; sooner
or later there comes to each life the clash of mortality and eternity. We begin to come to terms with how quickly
this life passes, and the prescient reality of judgment coming. It’s like the early morning sun on hung-over
eyeballs, it hurts to face the music our behavior has harvested, but the sun
rises nonetheless!
And so, this passage of Jesus’
sermon about the final judgment begins to make its way into the concern with
which every human must face: Creator –
Savior – Judge.
Most people have little problem
with God as Creator; many even embrace the idea of a Savior who gets us out of
jail-free. But knee-jerks start to
happen when judge comes into focus.
In an era of excuses, where getting dropped on our head as a baby caused
my chocolate genetic disposition to steal the drugs that caused me to want to
rob that bank and shoot three tellers is an acceptable (and often successful)
defense at the trial…well, nobody is guilty, we all get a do-over, no questions
asked.
Except, that’s not what the
Scriptures say, or what common sense understands. There is, in each of us, an innate understanding
(DNA hard-wiring, if you will) that behavior and consequence are how this
universe operates. And if you subscribe
at all to the premise that God exists, and is our Creator, came to be our
Savior, then the God who created a cause and effect universe
operates that way too. That means the loving
God who created us, and came to be our Savior, is also the One who
judges us when we reject him! It’s who
He is!
And the greatest certainty about
God’s brand of cause and effect is forgiveness.
As Savior, Jesus opened that reality to us – that our repentance,
genuine turning of heart, mind, and soul, are causative to His forgiveness, and
cancelling the debt of our sin.
For You Today
Hippie,
Yuppie, or whatever knee-jerk you’ve ever wandered into, Jesus is Savior for
all.
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