Least of These

“Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

                                                            Matthew 25:40

               Jesus tells us here that when we do something for His people in love, to glorify His name then it is like we are doing it for Jesus himself. There will be people that thought they knew Jesus and did enough for Him, but when the time comes Jesus will say “Depart from me, I never knew you.” These will be people who did not serve His people when it was needed, people who did not have a real relationship with Jesus. He asks us to serve the hungry, be generous to the poor, and love those whom are despised in this world. Why does He ask us to do this? Because He himself did it for us. You and I were heading for hell and had no way at all to get to heaven on our own. We were set to an everlasting fire and spiritual darkness from God. But then in stepped Jesus, taking the form of something human and lowly, from His glorious dwelling in heaven with the Father. He came to earth as a man and did everything because He loved us. Even though He was looked at harshly and beaten because of it. Tim Keller says in his book ‘Jesus the King’ that “All life-changing love is substitutionary sacrifice.” Real true love is truly putting someone else before yourself, even if you suffer for it. Jesus lived His whole life in this way, putting others needs above His. And He proved it on the cross. So Jesus asks us to put the needs of others, even “the least of these”, ahead of our own needs and wants. Because He did it himself. If we do this in His name then we are doing it to Jesus himself.

Application- when I struggle with putting others needs above my own, think about Jesus and what He has done.