In Matthew 16:25-26 of the Bible, Jesus says to His disciples:
25 “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever
loses his life for My sake shall find it.
26 “For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world,
and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his
soul?”
~New American Standard Bible
25 For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort
and security here], shall lose [eternal life]; and whoever loses his
life [his comfort and security here] for My sake, shall find [life
everlasting].
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and
forfeits his life – his [blessed] life in the kingdom of God? Or what
would a man give as an exchange for his [blessed] life – in the
kingdom of God?
~ The Amplified Bible
Jesus said this after He had been making it clear to His disciples
that “He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the
elders and the high priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third
day be raised from death.” (Matthew 16:21)
We can live a self-indulgent existence, ignoring the suffering that
we cause directly or indirectly; or we can choose to learn how to cause
as little pain and suffering as possible and to encourage others to do
the same.
God cannot be fooled; He sees the heart. So anyone who thinks that
they can pretend not to know that they are complicit in the suffering of
the “least” among us, and spend eternity in the kingdom of God anyway,
is in for a rude awakening. Matthew 25:45:
45 "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the
extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did
not do it to Me.'
46 "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the
righteous into eternal life."
~New American Standard Bible
Our journey on earth should be a blessing to those who cannot speak
for themselves, whether human or nonhuman, not for selfish reasons, but
as a response to the Holy Spirit’s prompting. Our conscience will let us
know if we are truly among those who will be welcomed by God in our
eternal life.
To learn more, visit:
http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/index.html
http://www.all-creatures.org/recipes.html
