The Nature of God and Healing

"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 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. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal" (Mat. 25:31-46).

For the most part these powerful words of Jesus are self-explanatory, but there are just a couple of things that can be pointed out here that may clarify the passage even more. First of all, it is evident that both the sheep and the goats did or did not do what they were noted for, simply because it was just the way they naturally lived their lives. Neither were minded of the things that they were said by Jesus to have done or not done in their lives, again, because it was just their automatic nature of living. And that noted fact leads to the second point, which actually is the explanation of the first point. The apostle Paul I believe said it best: "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not [holy love], it profiteth me nothing" (I Cor. 13:3). The sheep at the judgment obviously received and kept the love of God thriving in their lives, and were naturally motivated thereby to do those things that Jesus praised them for. They were not calculating to do things that they figured they would be rewarded for, but rather they were doing what they loved to do because those are the things that God's love is minded of. On the other hand, the goats either did not receive the love of God into their lives, or they DID receive it but let it "wax cold" along the way (Mat. 24:12,13; Mat. 25:8). Therefore they just naturally did the things that accompany NOT living in God's love, and did NOT do those things that accompany having God's love present in one's life. And the final point that I would like to make is exactly what the apostle Paul stated in the above quoted scripture. Even if one DOES do those things that the sheep were credited for doing, and it is not motivated by the pure love of God; as Paul noted, it will do nobody any good at all. And since we are talking about the highest of all stakes here, I believe it is a very good idea to make doubly certain that our hearts retain nothing but God's holy love, which is "shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost" (Rom. 5:5). Amen.