1 “Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people, to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that they will be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your charitable giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
TODAY'S TAKEAWAY
As believers (children of God), we will never lose our salvation. And our heavenly Father will reward us for good deeds done with right motives, which are:
- with humble and sincere hearts
- in the Lord God's will
- in His guidance
- in His strength
- with His help
- in His righteousness
- in His graciousness
- in His agape (unconditional, sacrificial) love
- all to His glory
Another way to assess ourselves is to consider our relationships. Are we more concerned about what others will think, or are we more concerned with the Lord and what He thinks and wants from us and for us?
If we are seeking rewards, compliments, "likes", recognition and praise from others, our motives for our actions and words will be arrogant, prideful, selfish, self-seeking and self-serving. And even if and when we do something "good", people can typically see right through the shallowness. And then, whatever it is we are doing, is no different than what the world is doing. As well, the people we are trying so hard to please, rarely care all that much about us, and can and will turn on us for whatever reason, as soon as we stop pleasing or benefiting them.
The deepest most caring relationship we can ever have is with the Lord, who will never forsake us, even when we say and do something that does not please Him. Once a child of God, always a child of God! And as a loving, heavenly Father, He is always there for us, not to enable us in bad behavior, because He will discipline us with the desire of getting us back on the right path.
The amazing thing, is that the Lord God not only cares what we do for His kingdom, He cares about us and wants us to find and experience His true comfort, joy, peace, strength and purpose in His kingdom. As we ask and allow the Lord to fill us with His love and goodness, not only will we experience more of God, but our good deeds will be an outpouring of God, which will impact others more deeply.
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