July 13, 2021 Devotion

posted by Ty Garvey | Jul 13, 2021

Tuesday, July 13


Read

Matthew 25:34-36: “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.’”


Reflect

In this parable, Jesus is describing the final judgement.  Those on the right are those who whenever they did these things “unto the least of these”, they did them to Jesus himself.  They are the ones who are inheriting eternal life.  Those who failed to behave in this way, failed to receive eternal life.  I think this story is a reminder, and sometimes a very sobering one, that being a Christian isn’t simply saying a prayer and then sitting back and waiting on our reward. To feed those who are hungry, give drink to those who are thirsty, invite the stranger into our lives, cloth the naked, care for the sick, and visit those who are in prison; to do those things requires a great deal from us.  They are hard to do.  But they are precisely all the things that God has done unto us in our lives.  To be Christian is to see the grace and mercy that God has lavishly poured upon us, and then to desire to return that to Him by pouring it out upon others.  That is how Jesus recognizes us as one of His own. In conclusion, our Christian hospitality is not something we do to earn favor with God, it is a way we live our lives in order to show that God has left His mark upon us.


Pray

God, let us be God’s hospitality in the world.