Don't Pass Me by...

Matthew 25:41-46

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

This past weekend Haley and I went to the biggest Bass Pro Shop we have ever seen! When we arrived we expected to go in and enjoy all that Bass Pro Shop had to offer, but as we were getting out of the car we noticed a seagull tangled up in the power lines. I hear Haley say, "oh no! Look at that poor bird!" as it went falling about 50 - 60 feet into a boat on display. 

At this point our trip took a turn. There was no way we could just walk inside and pretend like nothing happened. As we made our way over to the boat where the seagull had fallen into we saw a still alive bird with a mangled wing and blood splatter. The only thing running through our minds was great sympathy and confusion as what exactly to do. We both knew that we could not turn a blind eye to what had happened. 

Comapassionate and confused we simply prayed for the bird to be healed, but nothing happened. We then decided that it made sense to go into an outdoors store and ask someone in there for help. Makes sense right? The first person we talked to was the greeter who simply stared at us like we were crazy. As we walked away from the greeter we noticed that nothing was happening, so we skipped over the greeter and talked to management and from there results were produced and the bird was helped. 

At this point you might be thinking, big deal it was just a bird. Ask yourself, "How often do Christians walk past hurt, broken and dieing people thinking that someone else will take care of it, or that it is not important?" James 2:15 - 17 will help draw a parallel, "If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,' and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself." The point being made from this passage and from Jesus is that if you do not provide for the need that you see in front of you, then you do not have faith and are in sin (Pro 3:27).

As Haley and I were reflecting about what happened on the drive home we became angry because of how often people in need are overlooked and neglected by Christians. As seen from Matthew 25 when we work to help those in need Jeus says that we are doing it to Him, and on the flipside when we neglect those in need we are neglecting Jesus. It is a hard truth to swallow, but it is also a major blessing when we stop the plans in our life and divert to help the poor and needy. 

There are plenty of people who are overlooked. The truth is that broken people are looking for the answer to their problems, and they do not care where the solution comes from. The question is, are Christians going to step in and bring the life that God has to offer in Christ for the broken and needy? At the end when we stand in judgement will Christians passively say they didn't know, or will we stand in confidence and hear the King say, "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 say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me" (Matt 25:35 - 37,40).