What WILL you DO?

Before reading the rest of this post, I ask that you watch this video. I know it is somewhat long (but not that long), but it part of the inspiration for this post, and if you only listen to part of it then you will lose some of the impact.

So now the question comes, what do you do? Or what WILL you do? I think that all too often our response is like that of the biblical story of the good Samaritan, only that's not who we imitate; instead, we cross over to the other side of the road. We look down upon and judge people in dire situations saying that is their fault and they need to suffer the consequences and/or get themselves out of it. In many cases this is true, but isn't it true of ALL of us? And Jesus did not leave us to suffer the consequences, but rather came TO us.

Now I am not saying that this means that one should always give money to the man on the side of the road, but maybe sometimes it DOES mean that. Or maybe it means helping, with time and/or money, at a Crisis Pregnancy Center, a homeless shelter, an orphanage, or in a drug rehabilitation program. Maybe it means reaching out to your neighbor, or the person you know is a drug addict or worse. We can reach out with practical help as well as with what they need most; the Gospel! I do not think that the "least of these" are those people who have it all together. They surely include those who need help, but in no way deserve it just like we do not deserve the help Jesus offers.

As the song says, "When men here are hurting/And children they cry/When women are lifting their face to the sky/With hope disappearing and their backs to a wall/Now tell to me, Christian, who'll answer the call?/Oh we can't ignore them/The Church cannot sleep/If we sow indifference/Then what will we reap?/We may have the answer/right here in our hand/But how can we help them/With our head in the sand?" 

And even more importantly, as the Bible says;

    "Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

    Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:34-46 

What will you do? 

P.S. This is in NO way trying to say that our works determine our salvation.