January 29

⁴⁰”The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”  (Matthew 25:40)

I hope the verse above stuck out at you on Monday when you read Chapter 25.  This is the story where Jesus has returned and is sitting at His place next to the throne of God.  Jesus, the Good Shepherd, separates the goats from His sheep.  The defining factor of if you are a goat or a sheep is how you treated the hungry, the homeless, the poor, the sick, and the incarcerated.  Jesus, the King, states that when you help any of these people in need, the “least of these brothers and sisters,” you are not just helping a person.  You are also helping the Son of God.  This year you need to have a heart to help the weak and the weary.  Make sure you have a giving heart, because we all know that God sees into your heart and He definitely can tell when someone is acting on self-righteousness as opposed to someone who is filled with righteousness.  So just to be clear, the difference of being righteous and self-righteous is that the later is seeking approval for themselves from those around them.  Those that act righteously do so because they seek God’s approval and could care less if any one approves.  Be humble in your spiritual awakening this year.  Don’t let the excitement and spiritual fervor get to your head. 

Reading plan:  Matthew Chapter 27

Deeper reading plan:  Leviticus 11-14

Prayer and meditation:  continue to pray for your request from day 1 and ask God to always allow you help those in need.

Fitness challenge:  Week five of our 7×14 challenge.  Last week we slowed it down, this week let’s speed things up a bit.  Slowly contract your muscles, then explode as you extend.

1.  Standard push-up                2.  Sit-up or crunches

3.  Air squats                                4.  Hand-release push-up

5.  Leg lifts                                    6.  Lunges (7-each leg)

7.  4-count flutter kick

Journal:  write any memories you have in the past where you either helped, or perhaps didn’t help, some of the least in our society.  How will you pledge to either continue serving those in need, or how will you start making a conscious effort to consistently help those people?