When you find someone in need of your help and you step up to help them, normally you feel like an hero. When your classmate needs you to explain that difficult concept to her/him and you help her/him, he/she says "Thank you" and most times you'll respond saying "You're welcome". Deep down, basically every human tends to expect to be appreciated when she/he helps others.
The other day, I discussed God being Love and Love being the foundation of our Christian faith. God loved us first of course (He still does), interestingly every time we help someone in need, we express our love for Him, we touch His heart. You don't exactly believe me? Well have a look at what Jesus Christ taught himself.
Matthew 25:31-46 NKJV
"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of 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 took Me in; 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? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting 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 take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' "Then they also will answer Him, 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, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch 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 everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Notice how highly Jesus places the act of helping others, that he gave it as the condition to make it into that glorious city. Well, I don't want to go into that now, I guess that's an issue for another time. But please pay attention to how Jesus directly related ordinary people to himself 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' and please don't dismiss the manner in which Jesus said He will condemn those who don't help others 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food...' Here, Christ even made no mention of how one's serving, praising and worshipping Him will give one access to heaven on judgement day but like I said, I have no intention to go there this time or maybe I'm not led to go there now.
So really, when you help others, you don't really help them but you show your love for God and also boost your chances of making it to you know where. This is a mystery, that being in the position to help someone else is a great opportunity to actually turn God's attention to you, an opportunity one shouldn't miss, especially considering how Jesus described the Judgment day.
God wants us to understand how important loving one another is. Ultimately important.
Paul passionately prayed for the people of Ephesus.
Ephesians 3:14-19 NKJV
For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being ROOTED and GROUNDED in LOVE, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the WIDTH and LENGTH and DEPTH and HEIGHT— to know the LOVE of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the FULLNESS of GOD.
Also pay attention to how Paul rates the knowledge of Christ's Love and how everything will lead to being filled with the fullness of God. (GOD IS LOVE) If you replace God with Love in the phrase "fullness of God" then you'll have "fullness of Love" which will mean that the ultimate goal will be being full of Love. Paul's prayer wasn't for them to become very rich and never lack anything but to become filled with fullness of God, grounded and rooted in love and to realise that there's no limit whatsoever to the width, length, depth and height of Christ's love. Romans 8:35-39 "Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ?"
PRAYER: For this reason I bow my knees to You Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that You would grant me, according to the riches of Your glory, to be strengthened with might through Your Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith; that I, being ROOTED and GROUNDED in LOVE, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the WIDTH and LENGTH and DEPTH and HEIGHT— to know the LOVE of Christ which passes knowledge; that I may be filled with all the FULLNESS of GOD.
In this month of September, God will reveal to us His mysteries. Be attentive, spend more time in his presence, studying the word and please remember to share with your brothers and sisters in the Lord what He puts in your heart. Happy new month! Welcome to the month of "God's mysteries"!
The other day, I discussed God being Love and Love being the foundation of our Christian faith. God loved us first of course (He still does), interestingly every time we help someone in need, we express our love for Him, we touch His heart. You don't exactly believe me? Well have a look at what Jesus Christ taught himself.
Matthew 25:31-46 NKJV
"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of 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 took Me in; 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? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting 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 take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' "Then they also will answer Him, 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, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch 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 everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Notice how highly Jesus places the act of helping others, that he gave it as the condition to make it into that glorious city. Well, I don't want to go into that now, I guess that's an issue for another time. But please pay attention to how Jesus directly related ordinary people to himself 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' and please don't dismiss the manner in which Jesus said He will condemn those who don't help others 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food...' Here, Christ even made no mention of how one's serving, praising and worshipping Him will give one access to heaven on judgement day but like I said, I have no intention to go there this time or maybe I'm not led to go there now.
So really, when you help others, you don't really help them but you show your love for God and also boost your chances of making it to you know where. This is a mystery, that being in the position to help someone else is a great opportunity to actually turn God's attention to you, an opportunity one shouldn't miss, especially considering how Jesus described the Judgment day.
God wants us to understand how important loving one another is. Ultimately important.
Paul passionately prayed for the people of Ephesus.
Ephesians 3:14-19 NKJV
For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being ROOTED and GROUNDED in LOVE, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the WIDTH and LENGTH and DEPTH and HEIGHT— to know the LOVE of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the FULLNESS of GOD.
Also pay attention to how Paul rates the knowledge of Christ's Love and how everything will lead to being filled with the fullness of God. (GOD IS LOVE) If you replace God with Love in the phrase "fullness of God" then you'll have "fullness of Love" which will mean that the ultimate goal will be being full of Love. Paul's prayer wasn't for them to become very rich and never lack anything but to become filled with fullness of God, grounded and rooted in love and to realise that there's no limit whatsoever to the width, length, depth and height of Christ's love. Romans 8:35-39 "Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ?"
PRAYER: For this reason I bow my knees to You Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that You would grant me, according to the riches of Your glory, to be strengthened with might through Your Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith; that I, being ROOTED and GROUNDED in LOVE, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the WIDTH and LENGTH and DEPTH and HEIGHT— to know the LOVE of Christ which passes knowledge; that I may be filled with all the FULLNESS of GOD.
In this month of September, God will reveal to us His mysteries. Be attentive, spend more time in his presence, studying the word and please remember to share with your brothers and sisters in the Lord what He puts in your heart. Happy new month! Welcome to the month of "God's mysteries"!
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