RE Verse reading–Matthew 25:31-46 (day five) “I was hungry and you gave me food” (vs 35) It is a shocking idea. A God who needs our help. Requires it, in fact. A God who (by His own choice and gracious purpose) humbles Himself to the point of no longer being self sufficient. Why? Why would He desire/need the prayers of His friends at Gethsemane? Why would He ask for a drink of water as He hung on the cross? Couldn’t He have supernaturally provided for His own needs? Yes, but He didn’t because He loved. By giving us work to do ( preparing it beforehand says Ephesians 2:10) He was loving us. He was giving us value, a reason to grow up. Like a Father loving a child, one of the great gifts the Lord gives us is to communicate that we are needed, useful, valuable. Self sufficiency is not strength. True strength is love expressed in fellowship that allows others to help.
Not only is self-sufficiency not strength, it can be downright dangerous. We are a Body/Church for a purpose. It is His infinite Wisdom and Design that puts us ALL together, gives each of us gifts/purpose and tells us to love one another…. so that we can have an opportunity to love/serve others and also learn how to receive love from others (having of course already learned how to receive everything we need from Him so that we do not “need” this love but accept it as a Good gift from a Good God). In America the church is largely not set up with this model. My prayer is that the Lord would help us change this.
I am still thinking this morning about the Pastor in the news yesterday who fell to sexual immorality with a teen. I went in my prayer closet last night and wept and wept… I just could not stop. All I could say was Father, it hurts….
I cannot help but wonder if no one in that large church was discerning and could “see” what was going on. Was there no one who loved him enough to point out the path of destruction that satan had prepared for him… of course they would probably have been rejected….. but it would have been worth it if they even slightly affected the course he was on.
The bottom line is that we need one another. Each with their own Gifts and callings placed in the Body exactly as He has determined. Our pride blinds us to our own folly. The Body as a whole is to give satan no opportunity.
With tears streaming down my face and unable to see, I grabbed my Bible and said, “Lord speak to me.” I randomly opened it and saw Matt 25. As I began to intercede for this Pastor, his family, the girl and her family and the Church as a whole I began to understand even deeper God’s Plan. It was truly beautiful.