The following Bible verse has been on my mind a lot lately. As I write posts here sometimes I think the Word is just for me, but if it is for me, then it might be for you as well so keep reading.
Matthew 6:1-4
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of
others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father
in heaven.
"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with
trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be
honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in
full. But when you give to the
needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that
your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in
secret, will reward you."
Have you been moved to do something, anything, for someone
else and then actually done it? It
may not be completely in secret or maybe it was. I think it is safe to say we all may have done something
nice for someone at least at some point in our lives, if not on a daily
basis. Perhaps the hard part is if
you have done something nice that was known, but you were never thanked for
it. Not that you did it for the
pat on the back, but it would be nice to hear a thank you, right?
What has hit me recently is that us Christians can often ask
our Father for something and sometimes we see Him provide an answer or a
solution - our prayers were answered and our need met. The
question to ponder tonight is, how often do we say thank you? We're often excited or thankful inside,
but do we say, "Thank you, Lord!"?
If you're like me, maybe you forget now and again to say
thanks. We were created in God's
image. If we desire to be thanked,
doesn't it make sense that He would also?
Continue to go forth in this world to give and to love, but
do so without expecting the big "thank you" or the headline story
about how wonderful you are. Do
good things in secret and make your Father proud - and earn your rewards and
"thank you's" in Heaven.
God bless you.
Keep up the good fight, and keep dishing out God's love, and do so
without expecting the glory now.
Let it be hidden. The pat
on the back now is only temporary and nothing compared to the reward you will
see in Heaven - so do good without the motivation for a thank you.
The heart of what I'm sharing with you now is, be good, be
kind, and give, but resist the urge to do so with the hope, or need, to be
thanked for it. Let it be done in
secret. Someday you will be glad
you did.
