“Don’t run after fame and glory for yourself, thinking that such things are the way God keeps score. They aren’t. God doesn’t keep score at all. Such things are not God’s gifts to you. Instead, be generous, loving, gracious, and kind, for it is in these things that God reveals Himself to you, and reveals Himself to others through you.”
Most of us can agree that if we do good, kind, loving things in order to please men, we’re missing something. But is it much different if we do those same things for the purpose of being personally rewarded in Heaven?
If we would say kind things to and about each other and go out of our way to express how much we care and love those around us all the time, everyday would be special.
I got to hear two of the most wonderful things ever the other day. Our nine year old daughter came home after a rough day at school and though it took awhile, she finally let me in on what had gone on. Essentially circumstance and a couple of isolated encounters had her believing lies about herself and how others feel about her. We then had a really special talk about the things that are true about her and how perfectly loved and lovable she is. That’s when she said, “Dad can we spend a whole day together?” Later that night I went in to kiss her goodnight after she and her Mom had prayed and the first thing she said was, “Thank you for saying what you did Dad.” Raising someone’s spirit has a wonderful way of raising yours.
I’m enjoying reading Bob Goff’s “Love Does”.
“I used to be afraid of failing at something that really mattered to me, but now I’m more afraid of succeeding at things that don’t matter.”
I’ve really had to think about this quote. The question comes down to, what matters? And it seems to me that what matters is how and why we do things much more than actually what we do. Sure, there are the more obvious Godly things but if in all that we do, no matter what it is, we’re looking for Him and how we can love those around us that’s what really matters.
There will always be people around that take advantage of others in order to get what they want or what they think they need. This demonstrates a lack of trust in God to carry out His promises. They believe that in order accomplish their wishes they have to do it themselves, usually at the expense of those around them.
When we are trusting and experiencing God’s infinite love for us, there is no way we can keep it all for ourselves. The very nature of love is giving. His love is realized through intimacy with Him and one of the results of that intimacy is the ability to know when, how, and with who we are to share. Like we said yesterday, there is nothing more exciting.
There’s nothing better than being used by God to share his love with others. It can be as simple as a kind word or as involved as digging in with someone when they are going through a rough time. – Few things hurt as much as being used by people.
I wonder how often we pass right by someone that God would like for us to engage with? Someone not on our schedule, someone that could use a warm smile or a kind word, maybe even someone with something for us. Shouldn’t we try to slow down enough to find one of these encounters everyday?
