We have all had one of those e-mails in one form or another..."This was sent to you because you are loved by the Lord. If you believe and love the Lord, please pass this on to at least 10 people and return it to the one who sent it to you." It seems more and more people are wanting to show their Christianity. That's not a bad thing but was this the way Jesus really intended for us to be?
As Jesus was speaking with His disciples, He taught them, "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 6:1) To do things in the name of the Lord so others will notice is a wrong motive. Some may not like to hear that but Jesus was teaching that. To be recognized by men is not good. Jesus goes on to explain about their giving and sounding a trumpet before you when you give (v.2-4). We have seen this already in the Haitian relief. The rich, famous and ball teams all announce the money they give to help the poor. They are doing it to be noticed by men. Listen, you can do good things but for the wrong reason. Jesus said to give, do it in secret as a service to God as God will see. When we do things for God's name sake, He notices. When we do things to be recognized by people, the praise from people is all they get!
We seem to live in a day and time where people need attention from people. Some feel inadequate and need acceptance. We are not to be attention seekers but learn to serve from a pure heart and givers because of God.
To do things in secret because of God and His glory, God is able to make things come back to you. That's why Jesus warned His disciples about making things a show. We need to learn how to build a genuine faith, based off of God and Him alone. It strengthens the relationship and causes real spiritual growth. Jesus taught that what we do before men, it needs to make certain that it glorifies God, not us or our deeds (Matt. 5:16). Take people who "witness" for the Lord. They tell others what God has done for them and if one listens carefully, most of the time it is about how special they feel or selective they are to God. It ends up to their glory, not God's! When is the last time you ever heard someone speak of being baptized into the death of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins in His presence? Recently I had a lovely sister in Christ share something great with me and she didn't know how great it was. She is poor financially. Someone had sent her some money through the holidays. She called me and told me she wanted me to send the money she received to a children's home. This lovely lady has nothing and is struggling. Then came her words: "I am so grateful and I have everything I need. The day I was baptized into union with Christ was the greatest day and blessing in my life. For that, I can never repay so if I can help another find what I have found, that's what I want." No one knew this but her and the Lord. What a heart!
True Christianity operates off of simple terms. Things done to the glory of God means we don't sound our own horns and prove anything. Just simply loving, living and following the Lord in a quiet, humble means brings great reward from the Lord. I want to prove to the Lord that I love Him by following His love and will. That is something that cannot be hidden. When we have to tell someone we love the Lord by forwarding something, that might be speaking volumes about who we really are! Now that's something to think about.
1 comment:
Wow, I want to forward this to the people that always send me those type of emails. But I don't think that they would take it well. I have found that most people get offended when you don't see things like they do (even if the point is proven in the Word of God.
Thank you for writing on this topic.
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