RE Verse reading–Matthew 25:31-46 (day four) “Lord, when did we see you hungry and give you food?” (vs37) I disagree with those who teach that we will be surprised by the standards that Christ will apply to our lives/choices at the end of time. It is a fairly common interpretation of Matthew 25 to present a picture of unconcious goodness. A moral surprise. People saying, “I didn’t know that this was what You wanted”. I disagree. The surprise registered by “sheep people” is that we never saw Christ. We expected to. We expected Him to be more obvious, to “show up” so that could love Him more directly. Instead, we were presented with churches–people called by Christ, doing His will. We knew that we should help them. He told us. “He who receives you, receives Me” (Matthew 10:40). The fact that He expects us to help His people do their work is not what will surprise us on the last day.
1 Thess 5 says, “But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. And 1 Thess 3, “….may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.
These scriptures spoke deeply to me today.
I see the point you are making with your interpretation… I agree although I had not thought of it that way. I do, however, believe that true love doesn’t keep record of either wrongs against it or efforts on the behalf of others. It just Loves. Since I tend to be forgetful in general, maybe that biases me towards a little different view.
Most importantly, today I was reminded that only Christ is Worthy to judge the sheep from the goats….I understand in Biblical times that goats and sheep likely looked very similar…. I imagine only the Shepherd was really qualified to make the distinction.
Father, forgive me where I have failed you in this regard. Amen.