A JESUS STORY ABOUT 'SHEEP AND GOATS'
By now, almost everybody understands that the world is currently experiencing turbulences affecting the economies of the world in all front.
Let's face it: "it is a fact that the war between Ukraine and Russia has negatively impacted the price of food and petrol to the point of destroying the ability of many households to access decent food throughout the world.
Most medical practioners ,reading this post, will agree with me: " malnutrition, famine, and starvation weaken the human body and open doors for opportunistic diseases and psychological damages. Stress and other various psychological damages can easily affect productivity at work, relationships and many other areas of life."
Do you now see how many important areas of humanity are actually on targets?
Prioritize 'seeking the will of God' over the cable news
I think one of the greatest mistakes we commit,as children of God, is to give a greater focus to news and rumours of wars. Many of us do not raise our attention towards the will of God, His Word and His principles. Of course, I believe that it is important to know the news and what's going on in the world. However, in the midst of such issues, our priority should be turned towards the Kingdom of God and His will.
Jesus said:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
(Matthew 6:25-37)
Seek first God's Kingdom and His will. Your provision, your safety and many of the responses to your questions are found in His will for your life. More than ever before, we have to prioritize the will of God in our lives. I believe that His Word and His will are as relevant today and they were relevant in the past.
Those who are interested in diving deeper, can go read the linked post.
"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places".
(Matthew 24:7)
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
(Luke 21:10-11)
Notice that in Matthew 24:7, Jesus mentions that there will be famines followed by wars. In Luke 21:11, He mentions that pestilences will come alongside famines. The reason why there will be an increase of pestillences, it is simply because the human body will have difficulty to fight off diseases,germs and viruses in the absence of decent food. Most experts believe that will be more pandemics...
But the good news is: "you don't have to be a victim in this whole scenario. And even if you are or were a genuine victim (e.g: 'war refugee...), then you can still change the narrative."
Instead of being Christian victims binging news on cable TV, let us become actors and agents of God through generosity.That's how we can shift the current narrative of the world.
In Matthew 25:31-46,Jesus said:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire 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, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
(Matthew 25:31-46)
It is interesting that the story of the 'sheep and goats' comes right after Matthew 24. In other words, since it is anticipated that great famines,pestillence and other woes will hit the earth, it is also expected that we inflate our generosity towards the needy.
Now, here is the thing: " regardless of your theology, you can say what you want about the story of the 'sheep and goats' but there is an irrefutable Biblical evidence linking 'geneosity' to eternal life.
The people of the world are using philanthropy as a mean to manipulate and garner power. As Christians, we cannot be the ones on the backfoot when it comes to generosity.
Remember as well that there are so many Biblical promises of prosperity for the generous. I will not discuss them in this post, but I will let you seek them as part of your homework.
All the best!
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Let's face it: "it is a fact that the war between Ukraine and Russia has negatively impacted the price of food and petrol to the point of destroying the ability of many households to access decent food throughout the world.
Most medical practioners ,reading this post, will agree with me: " malnutrition, famine, and starvation weaken the human body and open doors for opportunistic diseases and psychological damages. Stress and other various psychological damages can easily affect productivity at work, relationships and many other areas of life."
Do you now see how many important areas of humanity are actually on targets?
Prioritize 'seeking the will of God' over the cable news
I think one of the greatest mistakes we commit,as children of God, is to give a greater focus to news and rumours of wars. Many of us do not raise our attention towards the will of God, His Word and His principles. Of course, I believe that it is important to know the news and what's going on in the world. However, in the midst of such issues, our priority should be turned towards the Kingdom of God and His will.
Jesus said:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
(Matthew 6:25-37)
Seek first God's Kingdom and His will. Your provision, your safety and many of the responses to your questions are found in His will for your life. More than ever before, we have to prioritize the will of God in our lives. I believe that His Word and His will are as relevant today and they were relevant in the past.
The secret to be established in prosperity
Your establishment in prosperity during these perilous times will strongly be influenced by your willingness to maintain the House of the Lord and the work of His ministry with your resources and not just your intentions. More than ever, we have to revisit and improve our attitude towards supporting the House of the Lord and work of the ministry with our finances and materials. I will not dive deeper on the subject because I explained the principle in this post: 'The secret to be established by God'Those who are interested in diving deeper, can go read the linked post.
Inflate your generosity
"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places".
(Matthew 24:7)
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
(Luke 21:10-11)
Notice that in Matthew 24:7, Jesus mentions that there will be famines followed by wars. In Luke 21:11, He mentions that pestilences will come alongside famines. The reason why there will be an increase of pestillences, it is simply because the human body will have difficulty to fight off diseases,germs and viruses in the absence of decent food. Most experts believe that will be more pandemics...
But the good news is: "you don't have to be a victim in this whole scenario. And even if you are or were a genuine victim (e.g: 'war refugee...), then you can still change the narrative."
Instead of being Christian victims binging news on cable TV, let us become actors and agents of God through generosity.That's how we can shift the current narrative of the world.
In Matthew 25:31-46,Jesus said:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire 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, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
(Matthew 25:31-46)
It is interesting that the story of the 'sheep and goats' comes right after Matthew 24. In other words, since it is anticipated that great famines,pestillence and other woes will hit the earth, it is also expected that we inflate our generosity towards the needy.
Now, here is the thing: " regardless of your theology, you can say what you want about the story of the 'sheep and goats' but there is an irrefutable Biblical evidence linking 'geneosity' to eternal life.
The people of the world are using philanthropy as a mean to manipulate and garner power. As Christians, we cannot be the ones on the backfoot when it comes to generosity.
Remember as well that there are so many Biblical promises of prosperity for the generous. I will not discuss them in this post, but I will let you seek them as part of your homework.
All the best!