To the Least of These

Thursday, November 17, 2022

To The Least Of These
By: Lori Ennis    

“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’” Matthew 25:40

I recently got the chance to watch what true grace and forgiveness look like, and how we should attempt to dole it out to everyone.

It was in The Wild, our (amazing!) Children’s Wing, and I talked with our Children’s Ministry Director Allie. We discussed some children who needed a bit more investment, and I mentioned that maybe picking them to be ‘helpers’ might encourage them. As a former teacher, I know all too well the tendency to choose those who ‘behave’ and ‘follow the rules’ as reward and reinforcement, and I’m not judging that–it is indeed great reward and reinforcement for those making good choices.

She said, “I always do that. I always choose the ones on the wall, the loudest, the ones on the outskirts. The ones who are always making the right choices probably get picked all the time, and I don’t exclude them, but I make it a priority to pick the ones who probably had the roughest morning.”

She always chooses the ones who may not be making the best choices.

I teared up because I could just see Jesus doing the same thing…extending grace and forgiveness to me, even though I probably was the last one to deserve it. In fact, if we were only picked by Jesus based on the good choices we made…I’m afraid we’d all fall short. Daily. Thank God He loves us more than that.

Giving grace and forgiveness to those who frustrate us or expect more of us is hard.
But it’s also beautiful, and what God calls us to do.

And it probably means more to those getting that grace than we can ever imagine.