#lighttheworld Day 9

Today’s scripture is Matthew 25: 36, but i'm going to give you Matthew 25:34-40 for proper context:

Matthew 25:34-40 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

The light the world website has some practical applications for meeting the needs of others.
-Give blood at your local blood bank today.
-Go visit a resident to lift someone’s spirits today.
-Resolve to pray daily for your loved ones who need spiritual strength or healing.

As usual, i'll give some additional practical applications with some analysis.

Giving to the needy, clothing the poor, feeding the hungry, housing orphans, and helping widows are all things Jesus commands his followers to do. What is made clear in this passage however, is that if you do these things, you aren't just welcoming the person, your welcoming Christ.

Verse 40 “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Now this doesn't mean if an unbeliever is welcoming in people to their home and feeding the hungry that they are welcoming Christ into their lives. What it means is that Jesus will recognize the efforts of Christians whom out of compassion for their fellow man took care of those in need.

Doing something kind just because Christ told you to, wouldn't result in feeding the hungry or clothing the naked. Having true compassion for your fellow man, would. The essence of the law and of the prophets is this, “to love your neighbor as yourself”. So, when doing something out of compassion, you are doing for the least of humankind, what you would do for Christ.

Now, Jesus isn't just talking about visiting someone who is sick in the hospital this holiday season. He is talking about sacrificing your own resources, living in a mindset of thankful abundance freely giving what God has blessed you with, to meet the needs of those around you.

But how can you meet the needs of those around you? Like the woman in the video above, the people in her life considered her struggle, and gave her what she was in lack of.

James 2:15-16 “”If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[b] is that?””

Some christians will see a homeless person, and give him a couple bucks or go to a gas station and buy him a sandwich or two. Others, will talk to a homeless man, get to know him, help him by giving him a place to stay, job skills, and assistance getting sober and healthy. The person who met the need of another, is truly Christs disciple, and has obeyed the 1st and most important commandment.

Jesus also says, abide in me, and I will abide in you. When you do good works because of your faith, the lord often rewards us. This can become an issue when we see the abundance we receive in our lives from blessing others, because it can corrupt our motives. For example, if you were to visit a sick person in a nursing home this Christmas, how would you feel about yourself? The goal of visiting that person is to make THEM feel better, to light up THEIR lives. But your motives can easily be twisted and subtly YOU can start thinking about how great YOU are and how good YOU feel about YOURself because YOU brought someone joy based on YOUR compassion…

Guess what? It's not about you, and it never was.

As always this isn't just a sermon, i've struggled with this myself.

Recently i've begun posting on here, as a way to kick off a career as a journalist, gain experience writing, and glorifying God while preaching the gospel. On my very first post, I won some sort of prize and i've gotten more up-votes and money than I was expecting. That post wasn't about money, that post was about preaching the gospel and teaching people what God has taught me. I wrote that for free, without the expectation of receiving anything. Unfortunately, the next day I was so happy the first post did so well, that I wanted to do one even better than the first just so I could continue receiving more rewards. Overnight my motives changed. It was no longer about helping people, or about glorifying God, it became all about me, and how good of a writer I thought I was. This made me feel terrible, I was no longer focused on giving to people I was focused on manipulating their perspective to give to me.

So, practical things i did that you can do to refocus on your goal, not yourself, and to love others:

1. Take a break from social media, and go spend time with real people

2. Read whatever religious texts you want, and pray to whatever God you believe in.

3. Go give something to someone to meet a need.

   I wouldn't have been able to do these if I wasn't given the tools to do so. I encourage you all to stop focusing on yourself, in whatever way you are. After that, get your motives right, and go give someone joy this holiday season. Whether it's giving someone a warm place to stay, putting clothes on their backs, or food in their stomachs, go give someone joy by meeting their needs :)

   Special thanks goes out to Pastor Mike and all other pastors of Greenhouse Church for making these lessons so clear and applicable. Special thanks also goes out to Deacon Chris Jette for representing Christ to the homeless community.

Also special thanks goes out to all the upvoters on my previous posts, thanks for the encouragement. Thanks also to @gavvet and @hanshotfirst for inspiring these discussions between the members of steemit.

Usual disclaimer: Though i'm not a Mormon, I do appreciate the efforts of the Church of Latter Day Saints to spread healthy morals through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As before, I hope that regardless of your religious background or lack thereof, that those who read these posts will find something of value and learn from the content above. Thank you for reading.