The Least of These

I saw a show on TV the other day called I Survived. I love this show...it has story after story of people who beat the odds and survive the most dangerous, horrible, unimaginable circumstances.

This particular episode had a story about a missionary in Haiti. He was from California. He lived in Haiti at least 6 months out of the year, running an organization that helped the needy (pretty much 90% of the population in Haiti). He worked with people in the slums, in the ghettos, and in the gangland.

One night he was driving through some gang territories to bring a small child to an airport to get him to the United States for eye surgery that would save his vision, possibly his life. Suddenly gunfire broke out all around him. He himself was shot, although the child was uninjured.

He was being kidnapped for ransom. The gang members asked for $300,000. The missionary had to laugh; he tried explaining he was a missionary, his organization had no money! Eventually he was released for $3000.00, and was able to bring the child to the United States for surgery.

I saw how these people lived. I saw the cardboard shanties and the nasty water. Now these people definitely qualify as "the least of these."

But you don't have to go to Haiti to find people in need. If the Lord calls you there, great!  But the "least of these" are all around you.  You just need to have the eyes to see them:

The woman whose husband just walked out on her and their children, leaving her a single mom working 3 jobs to keep her children fed and clothed.

The soldier's wife, raising a baby alone while her husband is overseas, serving our country.

The homeless man you pass on the street every day on your way to work. Have you ever really seen him?

The elderly man with no family left. No one to visit him. No one to cheer him up in the old folk's home.

The chronically ill. Those who can't leave their homes without help. The shut-in. The sick. The imprisoned.  You may be the only “Jesus” some people ever know. If someone is homebound, or in a nursing home, they can’t get to church.  They don’t hear the Word regularly.  They may be totally alone in this world. YOU could make all the difference.

It’s not always comfortable to do these things.  You may need to go out of your comfort zone a little.  Or a lot.  But if God is calling you to do it (and according to His Word He is), prepare to be uncomfortable.  

How comfortable do you think Jesus was on that cross?

What you do (or don't do) to “the least of these”, you do unto the LORD Himself.

Matthew 25: 40 “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it unto Me.”