When Jesus returns, He will announce to some people that they will receive a share of His inheritance. The people on His right hand side are the people who agree with His right to rule: they are His sheep. All these believers have the blessing of Father God, because their faith in Jesus pleased Him. John 6:28-29 says, "Then they asked him, 'What must we do to do the works God requires?' Jesus answered, 'The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.'"
 
This inheritance is not a reward for hard work: it is a free gift prepared since before the creation of the world. All that is needed is for the gift to be received (taken gratefully). Although it may seem that the following verses imply that good works of social action and community welfare can earn the inheritance, that is not so. The clue is in the last verse – the kindness is for Jesus' 'brothers and sisters'. In other words the inheritance stays in the family, Christ's family. Those who love Him will want to love His family also. 1 John 3:14 says, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death."
 
Loving other believers may well be a challenge but it is a mark of belonging to Christ. Food, drink, shelter, clothes, care of the sick and dying, the outcast and the prisoner … such compassion should be natural to God's people. We do not do it to be paid or applauded but because there is a genuine need and we are genuinely part of the same family. Indeed, Jesus takes the love and care of believers as one of the potent signs that those who show that love really are in His family. And if He was in such a destitute situation, they would have done it for Him. Although in His sufferings Jesus was deserted – so, no doubt, these words would have been long remembered by guilty disciples.
 
True believers do not love in order to get the reward; they are invited to receive the inheritance because they are in God's family and have demonstrated their love practically. In a world where the weak go to the wall and the arrogant triumph, it is refreshing to find that God considers love, care, compassion, mercy, tenderness, patience, gentleness and longsuffering as evidence that people belong to Him, and have the right to share His eternity. These qualities are the fruits of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). In other words, the right to enter heaven is granted only to those who welcome the Spirit of Christ to enter them (Romans 8:9). If you do belong to Him, let His Spirit move you to love God's family in practical ways, because you love Jesus and His brothers and sisters (Galatians 6:10).