Daily Devotion for November 4

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 25: 34 & 41

34"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.

41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

NOTE: There are two kingdoms. a kingdom prepared by God for the righteous. And a second kingdom of eternal fire.

The first kingdom is where everybody wants to go, thought just not yet. It is a kingdom that the common concept for criteria is grace. Can’t make it by our works. Yet, this passage turns that concept upside down. Where is grace, when it looks like works. Notice that the works aren’t even the typical concept of moral character, but the works is our response to the weak. Once again, whatever happened to grace?

If one truly loves god, and experiences the grace of god and that love, then as we grow in that love and grace we will begin to love others. If we truly love others, then we shall respond to the weak. In other words, it is love (Greatest and 2nd Greatest commandment) that is the criteria for entering the kingdom of God. The works reflect that love. In other words, you can’t fake love. You either love or don’t. Fake, unauthentic love, no matter how poetic the words are, if the actions don’t mesh with the words, the words are meaningless. James (faith without works is dead); and love without action is not love.

QUESTION TO PONDER

To love or not to love, that is the question.

THOUGHT TO PONDER

The rule for all of us is fairly simple: do not waste time bother whether you “love” your neighbor, act as if you did. C.S. Lewis