Hi Folk!
God has been speaking through His Word to His people here at Welties over the past few weeks. The sermon messages have revealed to us how many of us place those ‘other’ gods ahead of the God of our Kingdom, the true and only God of our lives. Our God is a jealous God and in our confused world competes for the souls of His people. Jesus leads by example and calls a spade a spade. We must choose to be sheep that follow the leadership of the Shepherd or we must choose to be the goats drifting aimlessly following worldly things.
We are so consumed by the material trappings that the world offers. We gather and we store for that ‘rainy day’ oblivious to the needs of the less fortunate amongst us. I am guilty too for seeking comfort and as I get older I find myself irritated when those comforts are interrupted. When the water and electricity is down I complain forgetting that some of our people don’t have such essentials. I too get frustrated by the ever growing number of people asking for money…! But how are we to feel, how are we to react…?
I watched an interesting TV interview on the Bushman in South Africa and how frugally they exist, gathering only the basic essentials for their daily needs. These ‘other’ gods of our lives steal away our spiritual connectedness with all of God’s people, that beggar at the traffic light seeking money for just a meal for the day, the marginalized drunk who begs for another ‘fix’, that lonely drifter walking the streets in search of……! We are even drawn away from God and we lose sight of the truth!
Our passage this week from the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 25:31 – 46) clearly shows what expectations there are for all of us. This reading may seem harsh but it shows the leadership of Jesus to lead us to make the choices that will not guarantee our existence on this earth, but will guarantee our everlasting existence seated with Him at the foot of the glorious throne of God.
Are you a sheep who hears the masters voice, who hears the desperate calls of his people in need or are you a goat who hears the call of the world, and does nothing about it?
Blessings and love always.
Chris