Thoughts on the Final Judgement (Remixed)

The following is taken from a devotion that I lead based on the same text as the next posting (Matthew 25:31-46). The main differnce is the story used.

What comes into your mind when you hear these passages? Do you see visions of God sitting on His royal throne separating the Righteous from the unrighteous? Maybe you get feelings of dread? Or are suddenly wondering if you’d be ready if God came back today? Today I wish to share with you a different vision of Judgment Day.
I spent my junior year of college abroad in Israel and while there; I studied a number of Jewish parables. One of the ones that stuck me the most was a picture of heaven. It struck me first off, because there really is not that much Jewish speculation about heaven, and secondly because of it’s content. Let me share it with you and, I think, you’ll gather why it caught my attention.
“I once dreamed I was given a tour of both heaven and hell. In both cases, I entered into a very elaborately adorned dinning room with the food immaculately set up. Then the dinner guests were filed in and sat down at their seats. It was at this point that I realized something was very different between these people and myself. The arms of every one of the dinner guests seemed to be permanently locked at the elbows. Then the eating commenced. It was at this point that I saw a distinct difference between the residents of heaven and the residents of hell. One room stayed immaculately clean the whole meal through, while the other became a total mess. When I took a closer look to discern the reason for the difference, I saw that the inhabitants of the clean room were serving each other, while those in the messy room were continually trying to feed themselves even though they never actually succeeded in getting a single morsel in their mouths. I didn’t even need to ask which was which, for that much was quite obvious.”
Is that the type of picture that you have a heaven, or even or judgment day? What do you think made the difference between the two rooms? The food in both cases was the same. The set up was the same; even the guests themselves looked the same on the outside. Yet once the eating commenced, that was when the true essence of the guests came out. For while the inhabitants of one realized right away that it was only in serving each other that they themselves would ever get fed, the others kept trying to feed themselves.
I think it is the same with the gospel passage I read this morning. Both the sheep and the goats were confronted with people who needed help and while the sheep helped all they saw in need, the goats did not. Why? The difference that, I think, Jesus wanted to emphasize was not how many more people the sheep served than the goats, but the heart behind their serving. The emphasis in the Jewish parable I read was not on the outward behavior of the different people, but on their inner motivations. Do you see the difference?
To me, the distinction is crucial. I have firmly come to believe over the years I have known God, that lasting transformation and change comes not in adapting a certain set of behaviors and learning to live my life right, but receiving Christ into your life and allowing Him to change you from the inside out through the power of His Holy Spirit at work within your heart. Once the heart is changed, outer change will follow suit.
The question I wish for you to leave with today is not what am I doing wrong and how can I become better, but who am I becoming? Am I becoming more and more like Christ every day inside and out? Am I taking the time daily to hear His voice and learn who He is inviting me to become? Am I trying to live my life on my own according to His principles or am I learning to hear His voice and follow Him into the life He is calling me to?