Caring for the Poor Little Ones

 Augustin of Hippo (354 - 430 AD) is recorded as saying God will turn towards those at his left hand: . . . I placed my poor little ones on earth for you. I as their head was seated in heaven at the right hand of my Father - but on earth my members were suffering, my members on earth were in need. If you gave anything to my members, what you gave would have reached their Head. Would that you had known that my little ones were in need when I placed them on earth for you and appointed them your stewards to
bring your good works into my treasury. But you have placed nothing in their hands; therefore you have found nothing in my presence.

Imagine all the things you have done, or tried to do, to impress your Creator. You went to worship, served on charitable foundations, gave hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars to "worthy causes." Imagine doing all these things, and so many others to impressed those around you. Now you have your chance to plead your case before your Creator. You quote your resume line-for-line. It is QUITE impressive. There's  just one problem. It's all about you. Everything you did, even when you gave money to other causes, it was all about you. Maybe you didn't get a

building with your name on it, maybe it was just a fancy certificate, or a plaque, or a photo-op in the paper, but it was still about you. 

The dear ones never saw you, never met you, didn't know you, so they had nothing to brag to their Father about. You put nothing in their hands, so you had nothing in the Father's presence. 

What if you knew ahead of time that your eternal destiny might rest in a story a "dear one" would joyously tell their Father in Heaven about you. How much effort would that have taken on your part? How much time? How much money? Just to show the love your Heavenly Father tried to show you, what if you had passed that love on to one of those "little ones." 

It may be much closer to the truth than most of us would like to believe!

Pastor Craig