by Pastor Douglas Brauner

In Christ, God Declares Our Works Good.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who 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 drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'”
Matthew 25:34-36 English Standard Version

Have you found yourself looking forward to settling in to your recliner after a difficult day? You’ve been looking forward to putting your feet up, sipping your favorite libation, and losing yourself in your favorite book or television show. Then the phone rings. You know that you have to answer it.

We don’t like interruptions. We’re really not all that welcoming when it’s inconvenient for us.

It’s a good thing that God isn’t like us. His ears are always open to our prayers, more than that, he’s waiting for us to approach him. He delights in our interruptions.

There’s always a welcome sign before God’s throne.

However, like the sheep in his parable, we struggle to understand how Jesus could say that we have welcomed him. We find it difficult to welcome a friend into our lives let alone a stranger. “…as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40) I’m not sure those words are comforting.

How can Jesus say that we’ve welcomed him as a stranger? Remember, in the parable Jesus is speaking to the sheep. Why are they sheep? They are declared to be his sheep because of God’s goodness in Christ.

We are God’s sheep.

As God declares us good, he even declares our feeble attempts to welcome others into our lives as good. You may not have wanted to pick up the phone, but you did. You cared. You listened even if your weren’t perfectly present for that person. God has declared that work good because he has insisted that you are good in Christ.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado