IGNORANCE IS BLISS

As I was reading Matthew 25:32-40 during my devotional time I was blown away by the IGNORANCE of those Jesus said are “blessed by my Father.”

When the king begins to describe one loving action after another – “I was hungry…you fed me… Thirsty…you gave me a drink… Homeless…you gave me a room… Shivering…you gave me clothes… Sick...and you stopped to visit… I was in prison…and you came…” After the king describes all these actions, the people don’t shrug their shoulders and say, “Well, you know that’s just like us… We are pretty humanitarian… Thank you very much…”

Not at all! The people have this puzzled look on their face and look at the king and say, “What are you talking about? When? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?” These guys and gals are blissfully ignorant!

Evidently, they haven’t been checking off items on some religious activity “TO DO” list… They’ve just been going about their everyday, ordinary lives…

I wonder…just wonder…had compassion, charity, empathy, and benevolence become such a way of life for those “blessed by the Father” that their actions didn’t stand out in their minds… Their actions didn’t stand out because they didn’t view these actions as special or extraordinary, but these actions were just the “new normal”?

If someone is hungry, you feed them… If you see someone thirsty, you give them a drink… If somebody needs a place to stay, you open up your home…

For these believers, that was the “new normal.” It was the way everyday, ordinary people responded when faced with a need…

On the other hand, when the king looks at another group of people and says, “I was hungry…you didn’t give me a meal… Thirsty, you didn’t give me a drink…”

These people respond, “What are you talking about? When? When did we see you…hungry, thirsty, shivering, sick, or in prison?”

Could I paraphrase the king? “It’s not that you didn’t see me… It’s that you didn’t see anybody… You didn’t do it to these… You didn’t do it to me… You walked through life IGNORANT as to all that was going on around you… You blew it, BIG TIME!”

If we want to avoid what happened to the last group and repeat what happened to the first group, maybe we need to begin praying the famous prayer of Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision and Samaritan’s Purse. “Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God…”

After Bob prayed that prayer he founded World Vision in 1950 and Samaritan's Purse in 1970. Bob died in 1978. World Vision went on to become the largest Christian relief and development organization in the world. Eighteen months after Bob's death, Franklin Graham became the President and Chairman of the Board of Samaritan's Purse.

I wonder if Bob heard the same statement the first group heard when closed his eyes in this life only to open them looking into the face of God? I wonder if I can live in such a way as to hear the same words myself?

Big news: I get to decide. So do you. So did Bob.