ACT 18: DAILY GRIND

 

MARCH 25, 2022

Matthew 25:45

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.”

 

This verse in Matthew 25 has always hit me hard. I do not want to be on the receiving end of these words. I would rather have said to me, the verse from Matthew 25:40 that reads “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Whichever verse we use, the message is the same, that we encounter Jesus in the people that we meet everyday, and how we treat them matters. Jesus drives home the message doesn’t he in these words? Matthew 25:42-43 “For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 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.’”

Let’s acknowledge the fact that our lives are often built around routines. People factor highly into those routines, but sometimes they become nameless and faceless as we concentrate on our own tasks and desires. It is so easy to be so entirely self focused that we can not see the needs around us. It is not that we are uncaring, because we are not, it is just as Jesus put it, the cares of life can choke us, and blind us. We miss the thirsty, hungry, lonely, the wounded, ill and the captives around us.

Today, this weekend, let’s take the time to get “off the hamster wheel”, as we say, and show some gratitude towards the ones we are most likely to overlook.

We might see a lot of people day in, day out. It can become easy to take them for granted, and forget to greet them with affection, or even just to say a simple thank you. Be mindful of how you treat your nearest and dearest; they deserve your courtesy and kindness just as much as anyone else.

There is TV series I came across with the title “DAD, DON’T EMBARRASS ME.” I have not watched it, so this is not an endorsement, however my DAD used to embarrass me at Restaurants. He would write a note on the bill before laying his cash down. A note that would read “thank you for your great service,” or if the server shared something of their story, he would put something like “I’ll be praying for you, and then he would put the servers name.” I really don’t know why these gestures embarrassed me, but they did. As I mature, I realize what he did was speak generosity and gratitude into that person’s life. Let’s give that a try, leave a note to explain that you're thankful for people around you. Maybe they fit the “least of these” that Jesus is talking about in Matthew 25.