Christ goes before us to heaven to prepare for us a kingdom (Matthew 25:34). We have a home not made with hands, eternal into the heavens that God, Himself, is preparing for those who know Him. In John 14, we are told that He has gone away to prepare a place for us. In this passage of Matthew we see, once again, the characteristics of those for whom God has prepared a home, those who have turned their hearts toward Jesus and have accepted Him as Saviour. Here we see that the heart of the Christian is compassionate, motivated to do good works, and is actively pursuing the welfare of others.
Very few times in the scriptures are we given a picture of the fact that we can actually care for our Saviour, and yet we are told here in Matthew 25:34-46, that we must. It is so easy to see all the ways that He cares for us, yet we seldom even think about caring for Him. We must train ourselves to realize that we can care for Him. Throughout the entire New Testament, Christ implores us to love one another. In fact, on one occasion, He commands us to love one another as He loved us (John 15:12). In this passage from Matthew 25, Christ very clearly explains to us that by meeting the physical needs of our fellow man, we are caring for Him. We must feed our brother when he is hungry, give our sisters drink when they are thirsty, take our neighbors in when they need housing, clothe our fellow man when he is naked, visit our friends when they are sick, and minister to those in prison (Matthew 25:35-36).
Why is it that we do not become His hands extended and His feet to meet the needs of others? Surely it isn’t because we don’t want to care for our Saviour. Most likely it is because we do not realize the opportunities He lays before us to care for Him by caring for others. We have become so conditioned to be self-centered that we just simply look past those in need. Our hearts are hardened to the hurts of others. We have lost our compassion because all we can care for are our own needs and the needs of those who are dear to us. We forget that everyone is dear to God. Each of us was created in His image (Genesis 1:27) and all are precious in His sight. In the absence of Christ’s human presence here on earth, He has left us with the responsibility of caring for one another.
We encourage you today to look at the world around you through His eyes. Let Him speak to your heart as He places people in your path and heed His voice. Realize today that each of those people was the reason He came and you, my friend, but by the grace of God, would be that person. May God richly bless you as you bless others.
This devotion appeared in the March 2004 issue of Drinking from the Well, the quarterly newsletter of Woman at the Well Ministries. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please click here.