Thanks for your question, Toolite. It reminds me that we are not only to believe in God and await the return on His precious Son, our Savior and Lord. But we are to be about our Father's business, just as Jesus was from his youth. We are to be wakeful, alert to opportunities to serve him - to "buy oil," as SuzyBeezy said.
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. James 1:22
Evidence that God wants LOVE IN ACTION include these passages:
And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and DO not the things which I say? Luke 6:46
Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. Hebrews 13:3
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. James 1:27
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:37-40
Most times when people say "love," they speak of an emotion - a noun. I believe that when Jesus gave the command that we LOVE one another, he was not commanding us to have a warm, fuzzy feeling. Rather, He gave us something to DO. Love requires action. When Jesus spoke to Peter and asked him numerous times, "Peter, lovest thou me?" Each time Peter responded affirmatively, Jesus told him something to DO about that love: "Feed my sheep." In Matthew 25, when the Lord praised his faithful servants, he said, "well DONE." He did not say "well felt," or "well thought."
All of our works are as filthy rags, and no one gains salvation by works but by grace; yet we are called to have the mind of Christ, but to be the body of Christ in the world. This means that the work He did is also the work we are to do now as His representatives - right now and wherever He planted us in the world. He said that even greater things than He did will we DO. We understand that faith without works is dead. We are to zealously pursue good works and be hot for showing forth God's love toward all mankind.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Rev. 3:16
You will notice from my sign-in that I am a new member of The Christian Forums. I am so surprised that I've been online so long without thinking to seek Christian forums. It is lonely for a Christian to share verses on Twitter and to interact with people on other online networks who have not given their lives to Christ. They can support our causes without truly understand our point of view. Therefore, there is something missing from the fellowship - something that is necessary for real accord.
I enjoyed reading your posts, learning from your understanding, and reading the verses you published in this discussion strand. Thank you very much.
Please visit my online advocacy organization soon. I believe that Matthew 25:37-40 applies to the incarcerated mentally ill. These people are sick and naked in prison. 1.25 million sick people in America are imprisoned rather than treated in hospitals or in community care under mandatory treatment, although it would cost no more to do so. This was the living condition of many acute mental patients in the 1800's also, when a Sunday school teacher named Dorothea Dix decided to DO the Lord's work for the least of these, His brethren. She was responsible for the first generation of mental hospitals in America. However, the hospitals were closed during the 60's and 70's, and many of those persons who had been hospitalized for years landed in prison for inappropriate conduct they could not understand or control. Many other persons who were born or developed mental illness in the decades since hospital closings are also imprisoned. The conditions of their incarceration is usually more cruel than other inmates - they suffer abuse by other inmates and guards often. Some are tasered, placed in deadly restraint devices, gassed, or isolated in solitary confinement. I think we can and should do better for the least of these, His brethren, than that - especially when it costs no more to treat such unfortunate people humanely.
Please visit my online group today - just Google "Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill." It is a Care2 human / civil rights group.
Many blessings to you!
Mary Neal
