January 26 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Matthew 25:31-46:

³¹When 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:
³²And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
³³And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
³⁴Then 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:
³⁵For 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:
³⁶Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
³⁷Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
³⁸When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
³⁹Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
⁴⁰And 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.
⁴¹Then 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:
⁴²For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
⁴³I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
⁴⁴Then 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?
⁴⁵Then 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.
⁴⁶And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Devotional

Some families have unknown guests for dinner every day. They never see their guests nor may they ever even learn their names. Nonetheless they have truly been hosts to brothers in Christ for whose needs they have been moved to make regular provision. Often they have put aside a few pennies at the evening meal - enough for a food supplement that will make possible a balanced meal for some brother abroad.

The needs of our undernourished brothers in Christ are very great. Many more homes are needed to receive them as guests for dinner. As we ask our Father in heaven to give us this day our daily bread, let us consciously include them in the pronoun "us"! Let us pray with them and for them, and let us give that we may share with them our blessings. Let us then open our hearts and our homes and welcome them as our unseen guests!

When we do this, in a genuine sense we open our home to another Unseen Guest as well - our compassionate Lord Himself. We cannot forget His words: "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 . . . 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" (Matthew 25:35, 36, 40).

Welcome to "Think on These Things," a twelve-week daily devotional prepared by the late Dr. John H. Skilton, an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and for many years Chairman of the New Testament Department at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

We are indebted to P & R Publishing and Skilton House Ministries for permission to use this copyrighted material on the OPC Web site. (P & R held the copyright from 1975 to 2005, at which time they reassigned the copyright to Skilton House.)