The "Spiritual" Hunger Games Part 1

In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus tells a parable subtitled in most Bible’s as The Sheep and the Goats.  I’ve read and heard different dissertations on this passage and most have pointed to the truth that Jesus was implying that if we are righteous then we will feed, supply drink, be hospitable, taking care of the sick and visiting people in prison; meeting the most basic of needs of others around us. 

…But something else struck me as I’ve read this passage before.  Maybe Jesus was saying something else that isn’t quite as obvious.  I believe that he was speaking not just about the physical needs of others, but the spiritual needs.  After all, isn’t God primarily concerned with the condition of our hearts?  So let’s break this down a bit…

Matthew 25

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

There is going to be a separation of peoples into two groups and here are the deciding factors…

The Sheep

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. 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 Goats

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. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

This is serious business, so as I dove deeper into this passage, this is what I discovered.  That for each physical representation there is a spiritual representation as well.

*Part 2 tomorrow...

The Best "Blog" Ever

I love writing and reading blogs.  If you notice, there is a blog out there that can tackle just about every topic.  What is a blog really? –I get asked that question a lot from people when I tell them I write a blog.   And you know, when I think about it, I technically don’t know.  But what I do know is that a blog (for me) is a personal platform, a soapbox of sorts, to share whatever is on my mind.  Before all of this blogging on the web was introduced there was the newspaper and even older than that were letters written on papyrus from scribes taking notes from oral “bloggers.” 

When you think about it, the greatest “blog” out there is the Bible.  It covers every topic down to its very roots.  The author speaks from His heart what’s on His mind with the intention of challenging us to better ourselves by joining into relationship with Him.  He even gives us the opportunity to click on that “follow” button that you find on most blogs, giving us the choice to follow Him, God’s “blog.” 

Thank you God for being the author of the most challenging “blog” there is and ever will be.

If the Bible had a “blog” title to sum up everything within, what do you think it would be?

Women Competing with Other Women Spells DISASTER

If you’re not familiar with the book of Esther stop reading this blog and give it a read and then come back to this blog.

Esther was a young woman who was in a competition, but she wasn’t competitive.  She was forced to live in a system and a society where she was competing for the heart of the king.  Even in scripture Esther is recorded as not wanting to be in the position she was placed in.  She didn’t want to be there, she didn’t want to compete and tried to live as normal of a life as possible while experiencing life within the walls of the kingdom.  Eventually Esther does meet the king and he favors her above all women.  He chooses her for his wife and the competition is over.

Do you think those other women were jealous of each other during this time?  The Bible doesn’t say exactly, but in my experience if there is an atmosphere of competition then there is jealousy.  Our society today is nothing BUT competition.  We live in a system that confronts us with competitive situations daily and for women that can spell D*I*S*A*S*T*E*R when we choose to participate in competition.

What situation do you find yourself in?

•       You and another woman are competing with one another
•       You are competing with another woman but she won’t compete with you
•       Another woman is competing with you but you won’t compete with her

Esther wasn’t competing; she took on the attitude that if God wants to promote her then she was there for that specific time and place to be used by God for His purposes.  I believe that is the call on all of our lives.  That God promotes and elevates each one of us at a specific time for a specific purpose.  Esther wasn’t promoted to queen just to show the world how beautiful she was, even though she is noted for her beauty.  Esther wasn’t promoted to queen because she was better than everyone else.  Esther WAS promoted as queen to seek the favor of the king so that he might save her people, the Jews.  It was a political move spiritually.  If this is the call for all of us, to be used for a specific time and purpose, to make a difference in this world; to attack the kingdom of darkness in strategic political attacks, then why would any of us women want to compete?  We should be standing by one another, cheering each other on for each success.  Each time a woman you know is elevated and promoted we should share in their joy realizing that God is positioning her for a political attack on the enemy.  When we become jealous of each other, what we’re really doing is working against what God has planned for each one of us.  We are tearing apart the strategic plan making it unsuccessful in defeating our enemy, the devil.

¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)

Instead of tearing apart God’s plan for each one of us, let’s tear apart what spells D*I*S*A*S*T*E*R, stop competing with the women around us and start building up one another spelling a much needed word; S*I*S*T*E*R.  When we drop the DIA from the word DISASTER what we are really dropping is a word that is defined in the dictionary as a prefix meaning: apart.  Let’s all make the choice today to not separate and pull apart one another through competition but embrace each other as SISTERS in the Lord.

If you are experiencing a situation where someone is competing with you, have you decided not to compete with them?  In what ways are you not competing with them? Have you ever experience a friendship with another woman that started as competition then changed to sisterhood in the Lord? –Please share your story to encourage others.