Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Ready...FIRE...Aim!

 

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

“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!’  Matthew 25:31-40

Sometimes people confuse the order of things.  The old order was ready…AIM…fire.  Firing first, and then aiming (and even arming) a modern weapon demanded a new order.  This would have been unthinkable to the bow and arrow age, but, technology…eh?

Theologically, the guided-missile approach plays well.  Under the old order we would point-out the target first, aim at it, then pull the trigger.  The target was being a Christian (when you get there you’ll do this, and this, and that…and not do those other, nasty things).  That’s what you do to get to the bullseye, be a good person, do good stuff, and you hit the center.  And God smiles.  Right?

Well, if you were listening to Matthew’s account of what Jesus said about the bullseye, the blessed sheep never even knew they were hitting a bullseye with feeding, clothing, visiting, and caring for others.  They found it out on judgment day.  Their common statement was:  So, Lord, when did we…?

 Just as launching a missile is first, and the programming then takes over, with signals sent to “aim” the missile’s guidance control from the satelite to show it the way to the target, pulling the trigger on your faith in Christ will open your heart (your guidance system) to receive direction from above.  It’s called prayer, and it moves us beyond being a loaded gun, ready to explode anywhere it lands, to a need-seeking force of good, doing those things that will really cause God’s smile in that final accounting day.

For You Today

There are more than enough destructive forces in our day; God wants to turn your guidance towards lifting and building His kingdom of peace and joy.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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To dig deeper into today’s topic or Scripture text:  Creator Savior Judge and Judgment Day

[1] Images:  Wikimedia Commons  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©   

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