TODAY IS…

an excellent day to ask, “Can I really refuse or reject Jesus?”

“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.”  Matthew 25:45 NIV

Wouldn’t it be an incredible honor to have Jesus standing right in front of us?

There is probably nothing that He could ask of us that we would refuse to do. Let’s face it, if the Son of God asked us to get Him a drink of water, or a little something to eat, we would do it instantly, right? We would wait on Him hand and foot. We would probably offer to wash His feet because we read in the Bible that He did it for others to serve them and we would want to serve Him and demonstrate that we learned the lesson He was teaching.

Why, then do we cross the street when we see some poor, unfortunate soul up ahead who appears to be begging for money?

Why do we roll up windows at the stop light when the filthy, crazed-looking person with the “will work for food” sign approaches our car?

Why do we turn the page in the newspaper or magazine when an article featuring starving children stares at us?

Why do we pretend we are not aware that volunteers are needed to help feed, clothe, and house those less fortunate than ourselves?

How can we say ‘no’ to Jesus Christ? How can we refuse Him? How can we reject Him?

“What? Reject or refuse Jesus?”

“I would never do that!” we cry.

Unfortunately, when we turn away from the unpleasantness of the unfortunate, we are definitely rejecting and refusing Christ. Would we slap Christ in the face? We would all certainly like to think that we would not, but rejecting, avoiding, or refusing to help people who are broken is the same as slapping the Son of God, the Messiah, the One who died so we all may live, right across the face.

The message of Christ is clear: We are to love one another, and we are to help one another.

We are to put others before ourselves.

“There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not accept My words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.” (John 12:48 NIV).

There is no better day than today to reach out to those who are less fortunate than we are.

We must all pitch in and do something more than just say that we believe. We must show that our heart is behind our words and if our heart is true, then our actions will speak out and we will see the face of Christ in every human being. We will look for opportunities to help the helpless, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, and to help heal the sick.

These are the things that Christ wants us to do, and we simply cannot refuse to do them.

*****

Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson