“As You Do to Others…”

"When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was sick and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you sick and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was sick and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you sick and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do so to one of the least of these, you did not do so to me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46(selections)

That is, how we treat others directly effects God.

Growing up I had a very close extended family. We went to my grandparents, both maternal and paternal, for holidays and I grew up with close ties to many of my aunts, uncles and cousins. Life has its distractions. Unfortunately, the chaos and challenges of life managed to dilute our family communications. As I grew, my career took me geographically away from my home turf of Ohio: to the West coast, overseas, now to Florida. As my opportunities to be physically present with my extended family lessened, so did our communications. Last week one of my uncles died. One I had been close to. It forced in my face the cold reality that his daughters, Janet and Sue, and I have not been in communication for many years. Not by intent, by accident. I called them this week to begin bridging the gap of the years. Hearing their voices again touched my heart. When talking with Sue, I asked her to tell me about her current life. She said she had taken care of her father in the nursing home near her house the last three years and now that he was gone, she missed both him as well as many of the elderly she had developed relationships with. She said she was thinking of going back to that nursing home as a volunteer. I reflected back to some years ago when I was active in visiting the shut-ins, in their homes, retirement centers, and nursing homes. It was one of the most uplifting experiences I have ever had! I always went away from those visits the better for it! What a blessing.

It would be a great idea to call a local nursing home or retirement center and ask for the names of a couple residents who are without visitors. Then visit them. Just visit them once a month. It won’t take much time. I’ll bet before long we’ll be extending both the frequency of our visits as well as the number of people we stop by to see. It would make sense to extend this ministry to the homeless as well.

“Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you… For…I was sick, and you visited me….”

Steve