34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
These are pretty powerful words from Christ in Matthew 25. Especially verse 40, where the King proclaims "I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!" This particular chapter goes on to explain that the brothers and sisters who didn't take care of the "least of these" was cast out of the Kings presence. This set of verses is sort of a motto for me, while at least it's the beginning of a dream for me.
I've long felt like the American "church" has been missing our calling, that is; we aren't doing what the Bible has called us to do. James says it this way in James 1:27 "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." I feel like the orphans and widows of yesteryear are the poor and needy of today. The Church is called to help these, and due to some laws, and other issues we just aren't. The longing of my heart IS to help those who need help. Let me explain a little. In 2008 when the recession stormed it's way across America and people started DESPERATELY needing help, who did they turn to after the government? Mostly they tried Churches; but the churches were grossly unprepared to help in this kind of situation. I have a vision, a vision that would help my fellow neighbor. My vision is something like this: the church you are attending has a "community help center" where people can bring the things they no longer need...things like bikes, baby items, clothes, books or whatever they have left over. When someone needs help in the community with these items, they can come and get them. Now when it comes to other "helps" that people need, services and things like that; the director of the CHC would have done the networking and leg work to know exactly where to send the person for that help they need. This center would truly have to be a community effort, with organizations from all over networking and helping out, city, county and state agencies as well as not for profit type organizations. I know that there would be several legal issues to work with/around in this situation; but the help that it would provide would be enormous. I'm pretty sure smaller communities have things like this, but the cities are lagging in the "helps" area. I don't mean to point any fingers here, because it's MY vision and I'm at a loss to figure out how to make the vision come true. But we, as the Church need to start seeing the needs around us, and getting creative to met them. After all Jesus did say "I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!", and who among us would give up the chance to help out the Savior of the World? I know I, for one, would be standing in line just WAITING to get my opportunity to help.
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