For God so Loved

Matthew 25:40

Who are the least of these and did God so love them too? Some are obvious, but others are not, we can look around us at people everywhere and make judgments on their lives but the fact of the matter is in some way we all are the least of these, maybe you suffer abuse that doesn’t show outwardly or you hide from the world, a spouse with an angry temper, mental or verbal abuse. Maybe your the man in the picture who is ridiculed for his gay lifestyle, (we are to love the sinner and not the sin). Home from war and not able to cope, fractured in mind, living on the streets with no home to go to. Mentally broken and so paranoid of all people, drunk and/or drug-ridden.

My point is this, these are the very people that God so loved the world for not just the ones who appear normal, let’s face it, Normal is just a setting on your dryer just ask Patsy Clairmont, not only does she believe this, but also that God uses cracked pots. Okay, enough name dropping and quoting, As I was saying the least of these or those we judge on outward appearances, lifestyles, the way they act, etc… just like you and me they too are why God so loved the world, it’s like reading the Bible and believing what it says, you either believe it all or you don’t believe it at all.

Our circumstances and sin is what breaks Gods heart, He so loved us all that He gave His one and only Son while we were still sinners to stand in the gap of our sin, to pay the high price on our behalf, if that is not the ultimate love I don’t know what is because lets face it none of us deserve it. From this point forward let’s leave the judging to God and show the love of God to all because the truth of the matter is this, we will all stand before God someday and answer for our actions, not for the lifestyle someone else leads, not for anything but what we have chosen to do, the good, the bad and the ugly.

If God can work in a wretched sinners life such as mine then he can work in everyone’s lives, those very circumstances are the very things that make up our stories and while God does not cause it to happen(because of free will) He allows it to happen. I think of a classmate of mine who’s life was spinning out of control, she not only did drugs, she sold them, she was a mess, was in and out of jail, recent years, she got clean, gave her life to the Lord and opened a halfway house in the city she now lives, she oversaw all the process to do so and last year was sentenced to a long jail term for charged that had pended for several years ago in her hometown  where she was originally from, they had really been cracking down on the drug pandemic that has been happing in this community and she had to pay the piper, long story short, she accepted what was to be, went to jail to begin to serve her long sentence and God intervened, she is now back at the halfway house overseeing the day to day operations and sharing her message of hope in a God she truly loves.

She is one of the least of these that God so loved the world for, next time you are walking down a street and see the homeless go buy them a meal, get to know them, learn their stories, don’t judge them. Jesus met people where they were, not where He felt comfortable going. The least of these is all of us and that my friends is who God so loved the world for.

Saved To Serve,

Maggie P