Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, (Matthew 11:28-29).
Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, (Matthew 11:28-29).
I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamped round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
9 O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
Every person who has accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior pledged to follow Him for the rest of life. But many of us soon realize that Jesus doesn’t always take the smooth path to get to His next stop. Sometimes His journey takes Him through winding roads, hills, and valleys, peaks, and mountains. Other times He travels through thorns and thistle.
Thus, following Jesus comes with challenges, but you do not have to be a victim of your circumstances. Jesus never allowed His circumstances to get the better of Him. He carried out His father’s Will despite facing many challenges. And the beauty of it is, Jesus never faltered, or wavered. He kept His promise to the father until the end.
Likewise, you and I can keep our promise to follow Jesus. But first, we have to stay focus on the path His footsteps lead us. We cannot allow ourselves to get trapped with the sideshows. For as you know quite well, Jesus has encountered more that enough sideshows in His time. But He never allowed any of them to distract Him.
For example, in John 8:3-7 He gave us a perfect demonstration of how not get distracted by sideshows. “Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, we found this woman committing adultery. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such offense is punishable by stoning. But what do You say?” They were hoping He would err, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
So, they continue to press Him. Then He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.” That was all it took to silence those who seek to distract Jesus.
Some of us may not be able to do all the great works Jesus did, but we sure can replicate His examples for our benefits.
English: An image showing Ovis aries in field with goats. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The parable of the sheep and the goats that Jesus told in Matthew 25:31-46 seems to convey a simple message. And why not. Jesus was and is known to make things simple. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that Jesus used this parable to clear up any ambiguity in an earlier point that He made: “Love your neighbor as yourself”.
As you read through the parable (the sheep and the goats), you will notice that as Christians and as a society in general, we are charge with the responsibility to care for the less fortunate. Further, according to the parable, every crying voice for help that we ignore will be held against us when we stand before the righteous Judge.
Matthew 25:31-46
New International Version (NIV)
The Sheep and the Goats
“When the Son of Man…
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