Choosing Our Judgment
How do you think the final judgment will take place?
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, " Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, "You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, " Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." - Matthew 25:31-46
Jesus tells us that he will make the final decision about salvation.
The father has prepared the kingdom from the beginning of the world, to be inherited by the children, and we are all children of God, so the decision on who belongs in the kingdom is already done, long before the judgment.
That means the outcome is our choice, not God's.
The idea that anyone would choose eternal punishment over eternal life seem ludicrous, but maybe we don't realize the choice we are making.
We choose to enjoy living in this world over the next by ignoring those who are hungry.
We choose to pass up eternal life when we pass by those who are begging or need something to drink.
We choose to be alone for ever, apart from God, when we fail to show compassion for those who are sick or in prison.
When we treat the stranger poorly, we are saying that we don't care about Him, about God.
When we do these things, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, visit the sick or imprisoned, welcome the stranger, we choose to love God's children, and thereby love God.
If we cannot do these things, if we don't even think of doing these things, we are depriving ourselves of the inheritance set aside for us.
Like the prodigal son, we can choose to come back and begin to show love.
There is still time.
More to come...