In Matthew 25:31-40, Jesus says
31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 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 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to 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 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39’When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
I don’t know about you, but I want to be a sheep, not a goat. Jesus tells us right here in Matthew how we can make that happen. To boil it down, we should help people in need. It doesn’t have to be something huge either. Look at that list – give someone some water or some food, visit someone who’s sick, or give someone some clothing. None of that is terribly trying, is it? It’s not at all difficult, so why don’t we do it more?
I think one of the biggest reasons we aren’t helping people more is because we’re not looking for people to help. We go through life concentrating on our next meeting, doctor’s appointment, what bill needs to be paid, gassing up the car, making grocery lists, and on and on, but we don’t look up and really see people in need unless they basically slap us in the face with that need.
But to get us paying attention, all it takes is ten seconds in the morning to word a prayer of, “Lord, bring someone into my life today that I can help.” Then you go through your day, just like you normally would. Only now you keep your head up and start looking for people with a need.
Maybe it’s at the grocery store when a mom in front of you doesn’t have enough to buy both diapers and food. Maybe it’s on your afternoon walk when someone is trying to lug trash cans in from the curb. Or maybe it’s at work when a co-worker is just frazzled with the load that your boss just tossed on them. In any situation, though, it only takes 4 simple words on your part and some follow-through to be a sheep: by asking, “How can I help?”