Scripture
The people of all nations will be brought before him, and he will separate them as shepherds separate their sheep from their goats (v. 32)
Observation
Two things strike me about this passage:
1. The judgement is decisive and final. There is no negotiations, second guessing, appeal, indecision. There are no grey areas or people who fit into both or neither camp. At the end it is all black and white, in or out, heaven or hell.
2. The basis for the judgement is quite unexpected, at least for evangelical christians. It's not what we believe but our attitude to the poor and oppressed whom we see every day which determines our fate.
Application
The people's attitudes in both groups are unconscious- they are attitudes of the heart or habits of life. The people are unaware of the actions being described because they are so much a part of who they are. They don't go out looking for opportunities to do good or evil, they just do what comes naturally to them.
Christianity is not a religion in the sense of a set of doctrines or principles or rules for life. The presence of Jesus in my life should push out selfishness and replace it with love and compassion. We put this into practice in different ways according to our gifts and personalities- there is no one-size “life” that fits everybody. However the pattern should be there of living increasingly for others and not just for myself.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, cultivate your fruit in my heart. Let my character increasingly be that of Jesus. Show me how to live the life of love with my heart increasingly tuned to yours. Amen.
But shouldn't our beliefs mold us as to how we view others? If we believe God, then we presumably should have compassion for poor people and others.I wonder why then, it's so easy for me to be compassionate with some people yet so difficult to feel that compassion when I think they have brought on their own troubles. Is that horribly wrong to feel like that?
ReplyDeleteJesus often talks about actions as the indicator of what's really happening inside us. The problem with Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity is that we often reduce salvation to putting your hand up to "accept Jesus into your heart" at a meeting whereas in fact Jesus called people to follow him to the cross... that's a lifestyle of putting to death your own desires and ambitions for the sake of following God's desires and ambitions for your life.I think beliefs are important but it's more important to get your heart right with God than your theology perfect. Having said that, there are boundaries of belief where you stop being a christian because you are worshipping some other god than the God of the Bible.Feeling compassion isn't the issue so much as what you do with it. Jesus defines love as the actions we produce on behalf of others rather than the feelings that accompany the actions.The whole issue of how to help people who are just really stupid (to put it bluntly) is tough. One of our richest businessmen here caused a storm this week by saying that most charity is wasted because it just rewards destructive behaviour and develops a hand-out mentality. I think he's right as long as we recognise that there are people such as the disabled who genuinely will need help over a long period. Life is pretty complicated! I think the answer is just keep looking to Jesus and listening to what He's telling you to do.
ReplyDeleteI guess that's the best thing we can do!
ReplyDelete