Matthew 8:20
Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
Matthew 25:31-46
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 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.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdomprepared 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, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
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, ‘I tell you the truth, 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.”
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It was 1993 and I had been unemployed for almost a year and a half and for the first time in my life I felt a genuine fear of my family becoming homeless. I was diligent in my search for employment in my chosen profession as a purchasing agent but was told 3-5 times a week “We’ll call you”. And they never did. I prayed each morning and just kept submitting applications. Each time I followed up on a position I became more and more frustrated and eventually came to the conclusion that I needed to make a late in life change of professions. After researching my options I decided to put myself through truck driving school. I was employed within a week of obtaining my commercial driver’s license and I have been abundantly blessed in my work ever since.
I travel all over the USA and I have seen most every state. In these travels I used to see a lot of homeless men and some women. Nowadays I see whole families begging for money. This morning I stopped at a rest area and saw a young woman holding a sign that said, "Homeless with two children". The Lord spoke to my heart and I gave her what I could but even then I felt like it was not enough. The Lord spoke to my spirit and said “you have to let me take care of the rest”. As the song says “Little is much if God is in it”. I guess the important thing is that I heeded the spirits calling, not how much I did, just that I did.
With today’s government putting us officially over 16 trillion dollars in debt and sending our jobs to China and Mexico the seeds for another depression are being sown and they could bear fruit at any given time. If things go bad, there will be millions more homeless and they will be looking to the people of God for help and answers. Already we are seeing more people that are homeless and hungry and the numbers alone could make us feel overwhelmed or even callused. As a nation we have become more materialistic than ever and hardened our hearts hard toward the poor. I know that some would say that they are already a part of the working poor, and as more of us struggle from paycheck to paycheck that might be a fair statement. But the working poor can eat every day and have a roof over their head. There are millions of homeless people who do not get to eat every day and do not have a roof over their head or a soft bed to sleep in. So when the Lord puts these people in our path and we hear the still small voice do we heed or walk away because we are overwhelmed, too proud or even fearful for our own provision when we should trust that God will take care of every single detail. Will we be the sheep or the goats?
When Jesus walked this planet he did not have a home, he owned just one coat and gave that away. He depended upon the goodness of others. He told us that "if you have done it unto the least of them you have done it onto Me." I pray that we will all listen, heed the Lords calling and trust Him to take care of the rest.
