What does it look like to ‘pick up our cross?’ I think Matthew 25:31-46 may be a partial answer –
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and he will separate them, one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick, or in prison and come to You? And the King will answer and say to them, “assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to the least of these, my brethren, you did it to Me.’
Then he will say to those on the left hand, ‘depart from Me, you cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and His angels, for I was hungry and you gave Me no food and was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
Then they will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then He answered them, saying, ‘Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’
I want to be a sheep and not a goat. I thank God that He gave me grace and changed my heart. I think as the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays come how we are with our family and eat excessively and give and get gifts, what are we (what am I?) doing for those in need? How can I use the blessings God has given me, which are so great to help others? It really hit me when I went to Haiti for the first time and saw so many poor and hungry people, and went to the hospital there and saw so many suffering without the medicine and equipment they needed. There are so many people that can use our help, at the very least to show our love to them. I pray that we can look to these people and have compassion and be God’s hands and feet to help them. “Do to the least of these.”
My Daily Scriptures 