LESSON: MATTHEW 10:32‒33

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body. 2 Corinthians 5:10

Those hearts are established and sure which await Christ’s judgment seat joyfully and with a good conscience. For they belong to the group and fellowship of those who believe in Christ, and demonstrate the fruits of their faith in the love and goodness they bestow on the poor, or in the patience with which they suffer with them. He who does not have this faith will not practice these works of mercy on his fellow Christians. But he who does these works, and does them because he believes that he has a faithful Savior and Redeemer in Christ who has reconciled him to God, must also have a good and friendly heart towards his neighbor and even towards his enemies, helping them whenever he sees them in need. To be sure, he also has his own sufferings in the opposition his faith encounters from the devil and the world.

He who is thus minded, I say, should be joyful and in good spirits. He may well already apply to himself the blessed and joyful judgment, “Come, O blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). He may well regard himself as “one of the least” of Christ’s brethren, one who has himself suffered hunger and thirst or has served the hungry and the thirsty and shown them mercy, as Christ has shown him mercy.

SL.XI.1894,24

PRAYER: Of Your mercy and grace, Lord Jesus, give us at all times a loving heart life Your own heart so that we abound in fruits of faith to our brethren and fellowmen, for Your name’s sake. Amen