The leaders of a certain church decided that they wanted to reach out to the poor people in their community. So they designed programs to benefit the needy, and eventually many of them, including some homeless people, were attending the worship service every Sunday.

One lady in the church was uncomfortable about the new faces at church. She told the preacher that she wasn’t sure that the church should be welcoming “these people”.

“I don’t want anyone to go to hell”, said the preacher.

“I don’t want them to go to hell either”, the woman replied.

“I wasn’t talking about them!”, the preacher responded. “I was talking about you!”

According to what Jesus says in the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matt.25), our attitude and actions toward the poor are taken into consideration when our eternal destiny is being decided.

That should make us think. And think hard.

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”—Matthew 25:45-46.