Trying to be a better person

I don't doubt that at least for some it might feel like I am beating a dead horse: "You're still going on about Matthew 25?" Yes.

What I hope to do now is bring it all together, and then there could be lots of posts on how to accomplish different things, but those may not get very far, and the reason for that is important too.

So let's recap: The parable of the sheep and the goats tells us to...

• Feed the hungry
• Give drink to the thirsty
• Take in strangers
• Clothe the naked
• Visit the sick
• Visit those in prison

The proof of being the Messiah that Jesus offered to John's disciples, as foretold by Isaiah, are...

• The gospel is preached to the poor
• The broken-hearted are healed
• Deliverance is preached to the captives
• Those bruised are set at liberty
• The lame walk
• The lepers are cleansed
• The deaf hear
• The dead are raised up.
• The blind receive their sight.

I think it's worth noting that the first and last items in the second list are mentioned in both passages (Matthew 11 and Luke 4). Certainly there can be more metaphorical interpretations of blindness being healed, and both types of healing were an important part of the Savior's ministry.

The the gospel was preached to the poor was a line that stuck out to me and made me go back and look it up, but the thing I can't help noticing now is that if we are truly conscientious about doing the things mentioned in Matthew 25, we are making it easier for the poor to hear the gospel. We are moving them away from being poor, to where we are all just equal. Everyone should be better able to hear the gospel then.

So I want to go back to what the King said to those on his right hand at the time of the separation:

"Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:" Matthew 25:34

I am becoming increasingly aware of large inequities in the world, and ways to heal them that would be very doable if everyone cooperates. I am also becoming increasingly aware of the chasm within that "if". I am not optimistic about changing the world.

However, if some minds and hearts can be changed so that they are more fit for the kingdom, so that they will fit in better and not be miserable in that type of environment, then that has value. It has value for them spiritually, and it can at least lead to pockets of good around them as they at least try to accomplish what they can. It does open up vulnerability to heartbreak, but it opens up room for a lot of joy and inspiration too. 

Because I do believe that He is coming back, and it is quite clear from the scriptures that even among those who are supposed to be followers and see themselves as followers, that half really aren't.

We talk about charity a lot, and people can think of examples, but it is still far too easy to claim some allegiance to Christianity without seeing all of the ways that we fail as Christians.

I want to get into specifics on these basic things, and they will show a lot of institutional evil that is accepted. 

It would be lovely if lots of people will read it, agree that things don't have to be this way, and we make the world a better place. A more likely reaction for many church-goers will be an initial resistance. No, that will make people lazy, or won't be safe, or there will be something wrong with it.

But then maybe they will stop and think about it more deeply, and get their own insights. If no temporal good comes out of it, at least some spiritual good could.

And I kind of hate that. I hate that we can be so much better and do so much good and that we don't. I hate how powerless I feel. 

Despite that, maybe I will find things to do. I have done some things -- they pale against the need, but still, I have.

Mainly, though, that should be the dilemma of a follower of Christ: not being able to do enough versus losing the sense of what should be done.

I do not claim to have perfect knowledge of it, but that is the thing that weighs on me. That is what I ponder. So I have to live according to my conscience, even if it converts no one but me.