Saturday, May 9, 2009

don't be a goat


What did the goats do that was so bad?

In the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46), the goats end up in everlasting fire after the King has separated them from the sheep. When I read this, I imagine you have to do a lot of really bad things to be sent off to everlasting fire with the goats rather than to be called blessed and welcomed into God's kingdom with the sheep.

As He separates the sheep from the goats, the King does explain why the goats are sent one way and the sheep the other. He tells the goats that they did not help the hungry or thirsty, did not take in a stranger, didn't give clothes to the naked, didn't visit the sick or those in prison.

And when they didn't do those things for the people around them, they didn't do it for Him.

So it turns out that the goats didn't do a long list of bad things, or really, any bad things. They just didn't do the good things.

Now that's a sobering thought.

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