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Do Unto the Least—Do Unto the Lord
This fictional story is told of a woman named Ruth who went to her mailbox and found a letter that read as follows:
“Dear Ruth, I’m going to be in the neighborhood Saturday afternoon and I’d like to stop by for a visit. Love Always, Jesus.”
“Why would the Lord want to visit me? I’m nobody special. I don’t have anything to offer Him,” Ruth wondered. Then she remembered her kitchen cabinets were empty. “I’ll have to run down to the store and buy something for dinner.”
She reached for her purse and counted out her money—five dollars and forty cents. She thought, “Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at least.” After buying a few things at the store, Ruth started walking home quickly.
“Hey lady, can you help us?” In her haste, Ruth hadn’t noticed two figures huddled in an alleyway, a man and a woman, both of them dressed in little more than rags. “Look lady, I ain’t got a job and my wife and I have been living out here on the street and now it’s getting cold and we’re getting kinda hungry and, if you could help us we’d really appreciate it.”
“Sir, I’d like to help you, but I’m a poor woman myself. All I have is some meat and some bread, and I’m having an important guest for dinner tonight and I was planning on serving that to Him.” “Yeah, well, okay lady, I understand. Thanks anyway,” the man replied.
As she watched them leave, Ruth felt a twinge in her heart. “Sir, wait!” “Look, why don’t you take this food. I’ll figure out something else to serve my guest.” She handed the man her grocery bag.
“Thank you lady. Thank you very much!”
“Yes, thank you!”
It was the man’s wife, and Ruth could see now that she was shivering. Ruth unbuttoned her jacket and slipped it over the woman’s shoulders and said, “You know, I’ve got another coat at home. Here, why don’t you take this one?” Then smiling, she turned and walked back to the street . . . without her coat and with nothing to serve her guest.
Ruth was chilled by the time she reached her front door, and worried, too. The Lord was coming to visit and she didn’t have anything to offer Him. Then she noticed another envelope in her mailbox. “That’s odd. The mailman doesn’t usually come twice in one day.” She took the letter out of the box and opened it.
“Dear Ruth, It was so good to see you again. Thank you for the lovely meal. And thank you, too, for the beautiful coat.
Love Always, Jesus.”
It’s one of the most radical concepts that Jesus ever taught his disciples . . . and the entire world: You are the hands and feet of Jesus. Sometimes Christians forget this concept, which the woman in the story almost did, if not for the Holy Spirit nudging her to action. She gave all she had to strangers and obeyed Jesus’ teaching:
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:37-40)
Have you given sacrificially? HAVE I GIVEN SACRIFICIALLY?
I can honestly say that I have not . . . and I’m one of those compassionate people, or so I believe about myself. But do I really care if some comes to faith in Christ because of a kind act or, better yet, a kind word sharing about my Savior and Lord?
Be His hands and feet today, and you may open a floodgate of joy to someone who needs it desperately.
Copyright © 2022 by Jeff Swart @jeffswart.com No part of this article may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from Lifeword.org.