February 8th

Our New Testament reading for today (Matthew 25:31-26:13) contains what is for me one of the most moving and sobering passages in all of Scripture: "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these…you did for me…"

Three important principles leap off the page and into my heart when I think about those words:

1. God cares about how we treat others. Jesus made it very clear that we cannot love God whom we have not seen without loving those around us whom we have seen. He taught that everything the Scriptures required could be accomplished by fully loving God and by fully loving people. Our relationship with Him is inseparably bound up in our relationship with others.
2. God will treat us the way we treat others. In salvation, God treats us better than we deserve. Theologically, we call this “grace.” In the Christian life, God expects us to treat others better than they deserve. In other words, grace requires us to be gracious. Jesus made it clear in the Lord’s Prayer, for example, that we can only expect our Heavenly Father to forgive us if we are willing to forgive others.
3. God cares most about how we treat those we value the least. The real measure of how much we are like Jesus is seen by how we act toward those around us who are especially needy or who are marginalized or devalued by society, not by how we treat those who are in positions of power or prominence or who experience exceptional prosperity. When Jesus comes back to earth, our eternal destiny will be impacted by the way we have responded to the greatest needs around us, including those who are incarcerated because of their misdeeds.

In the eyes of Jesus, the way we treat them is the way we treat Him…!

When you read this devotional, I encourage you to join me in praying this prayer,

Heavenly Father, Open my eyes to the needs of those around me. Help me to see beyond the surface of their circumstances and into their very souls. Help me to see them the way you see them, as being so valuable and worthy of redemption, salvation, and transformation that you were willing to sacrifice your only Son to set the stage for that to happen. Help me to find my place of service among your earthly family. I love you passionately and I want to serve you faithfully. In the name of Jesus, Amen!