Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Doing for others





“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.



“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’  “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,  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.’  “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’  “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.’  “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
(Matthew 25: 31-46)

     How many times will I break my Savior's heart? It's me who craves the easy in my me-ism little bubble that complains that I have to work the two days a week. How many times will I choose not to pick up my cross and follow HIM? To love COMFORT more?
     Longing to be the Christ-centered can sometimes feel like a roller coaster ride. Wanting so badly to live for Christ to live bent the lower as long as????? As long as I am not taken out of the comforts of my life.
Pastor preached Sunday on the blind beggar from (Mark 10: 46-52); he sat by the road-side blind and begging; the truest picture of humanity....and people just kept passing him by.
But one cry out to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Jesus son of David) have MERCY on me!
     Jesus stopped dead in His tracks and turned around and said "who called my name?"
 Who is it that we are passing by?
Are we the ones passing by the blind and the hungry?
     I have had the stench of death all over me lately. The people come and their lives are the broken. Some with the no families. Others that are dying with AIDS or Cancer sometimes it's a stroke and it's the Brain that is gone.  And it's the me who steps right over them to do what is called  "my job."  Aren't all those people supposed to be made in His image?  It's me when the shift is over that runs to the car like a mad women so I can breath again. Speeding home to stand in the shower trying to scrub the stench right off of me.........the stench of death.  It is then standing in my shower that I cry out "Jesus son of David, have mercy on me."
     In Hebrews 2:17-18; Jesus knew we are the helpless. He knew we couldn't save ourselves. HE looked on US and felt merciful. He saw us as sheep without a Shepard. (Sheep are not very bright animals, and they are always going in the wrong direction). So how do I keep my eyes off of me and put them on the King and live with Jesus being my everything?  As I toss another load in the wash with my Belarus daughter looking at me with those huge big brown eyes and she smiles a faint little smile and tells me they have no washer or dryer. The have to use the well water that is not close to their house and they pump water into a bucket. A bucket that is used for their drinking water, bath water, and for cooking.  How can my comfortable little life ever be considered Christianity? What is my life all about? To better my blog? To be a speaker or a writer? All for what? To simply elevate myself spiritually? I have yet to forsake my American dream.....I am living the American dream! Wanting to simply WAKE UP!!!! Wake up and say YES to God!
     If each of us lived our life waking up everyday with pure joy and saying, "Here I am God....over here....send me!!!! YES God I will go where-ever you lead.....not my will, but your will and cry out Jesus "son of David," have mercy on me, wouldn't we live in a different world?

Maria Skobtsova, (a twentieth-century nun) quoted this quote that will stay with me the rest of my life:
"At the Last Judgement I shall not be asked whether I was successful in my ascetic exercises, nor how many bows and prostrations I made. Instead I shall be asked if I fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick and the prisoners."

all of grace,
Robbie

    Thankful for:
the nephew who loves me
family time
being with my mom
swimming in the pool with my lab
the squeal of laughter at the beach from the teens
finding his grace
family whose hearts are fixed on the cross
the ocean
finding stillness
seeing His fingerprints everywhere
the gift-salvation
standing on holy ground
prayer shaw
old sermons
for my niece who I call "Etty," who cried the hard because I wouldn't give up my dog
poly pockets(my girls are too old so we took poly-pocket world to the beach for Etty)
who played for hours and the teenagers who took turns playing with her.
moments that take your breath away
slowing down


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