August 23, 2024

Matthew 25.35-40 (NIV)
“‘I tell you . . . whatever you did for the . . . least of these . . . you did for me.’” (Read the entire passage in your Bible before proceeding.)

When no one is watching, live as if someone is.*

I read somewhere, in reference to these verses, that Jesus didn’t tell us to sit back and feel love. He meant for us to act; to meet needs. The tasks Jesus listed weren’t unheard-of activities for his listeners, and they are not things that we are unable to do. As Chrysostom observed, Jesus didn’t say, “I was sick and you healed me” or “I was in prison and you set me free.”

We may not always like all the people in our lives – or everything about the ones we do like – but we are commanded to love them and serve them. I used to feel that it was slightly dishonest to act in a way contrary to how I feel.  But, as someone else has stated: “hypocrisy isn’t acting contrary to the way you feel; it’s acting contrary to the way you believe.”* [Emphasis added.]

Doing the right thing is still the right thing to do. Even if my feelings are not in it, my heart should be. We are Jesus to the least of these.

Rarely is faith in action convenient.*