Not doing the things

Not doing the things which they ought to have done

Love always gives. If it will not give — it is not love. It is measured always by what it will give. The needs of other people are therefore Divine commands to us, which we dare not disregard or disobey.

To refuse to help a brother who stands before us in any kind of real need — is as great a sin as to break one of the commandments of the Decalogue. We like to think that there is no sin, in mere not doing .

But Jesus, in His wonderful picture of the Last Judgment, makes men's condemnation turn on not doing the things which they ought to have done .

They have simply not fed the hungry, nor clothed the naked, nor visited the sick, nor helped the prisoner.

"Then he will say to those on His left: Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!

For I was hungry — and you gave Me nothing to eat,

I was thirsty — and you gave Me nothing to drink,

I was a stranger — and you did not invite Me in,

I needed clothes — and you did not clothe Me,

I was sick and in prison — and you did not look after Me!" Matthew 25:41-43

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