Loving the Least of These

I'm reading a FANTASTIC book by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision called ' The Hole in Our Gospel'.  A few chapters in he starts talking about Matthew 25 where we are given a glimpse of what the final judgement of humankind will look like. Stearns goes on to say that the people gathered before Christ will be divided into two groups, sheep and goats. However, he says that the most surprising thing is that the criteria for the division of the groups isn't what we would think. He says its not that the sheep are the ones who confessed faith in Christ while the goats didn't, but that the sheep are the ones loving the poor, sick, imprisoned, and vulnerable, while the goats don't. He goes on to suggest that this passage is hard for us because it hits close to home, aka: we like to talk the talk and not so much walk the walk. And then he took some liberties and paraphrased this passage himself and this is what he came up with:

'For I was hungry, while you had all you needed. I was thirsty, but you drank bottled water. I was a stranger, and you wanted me deported. I needed clothes, but you needed more clothes. I was sick, and you pointed out the behaviors that led to my sickness. I was in prison, and you said I was getting what I deserved.' - Richard Stearns

I LOVE the way he said it. It's so true, and also quite convicting.