Accountability for How We Live

"Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."  (Matthew 25:40)

During the week before Jesus was to be brutally killed, the disciples could feel the pace of events picking up.  They asked Jesus about how things end.  "…when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"  (Matthew 24:3)

Jesus unfolds the climax of humanity's story for them, and for us, in Matthew 24 and 25.  And ever since then his followers have written out detailed guesses as to how it will all play out.  Theologians have a whole area of study called eschatology to include their theories and guesses.

I remember, as I was growing up, the deep sense of fear I had about the impending end of all things.  “The Late Great Planet Earth” sold millions of copies during the cold war and we evangelicals hunkered down in our paranoia and entirely missed the point Jesus was making.

His point is that God has an expectation of man.  We don't just get to live our lives for our own pleasure.  There will be a reckoning for how we live and He will apply a criterion in assessing the quality of our life.  He will separate us into two groups and He will ask us, “How did you love those in need?”  

He feels what they feel and He wants relief.  His heart breaks for the pain He sees on earth.  He wants ours to break, too, so that we'll act in His place to alleviate that pain. The question is, knowing this, how will we live our lives?  There are so many distractions, so many ways to miss the point.  And I suppose that breaks His heart too.

As we look forward into the future, God help me, God help us as we answer that question.