A Thought For The Week Of September 23

"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." (Matthew 6:1) Well, I'm not sure it's about getting a reward in heaven, anyway. I mean, if that's why we did good works, that would be pretty selfish, wouldn't it? It certainly wouldn't seem to be in keeping with the spirit of Jesus and his ministry. I'll do good stuff - but only if I get a return on it. That's the opposite of agape love, which is completely self-giving, doesn't count the cost and doesn't care about a return. And yet I think about all that I've seen, and I marvel at the number of people who seem to do a lot of good works, but who always find a way to make sure that they're seen doing the good works. Many years ago, I remember Harold Ballard - the former owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs - receiving praise in the media for all the anonymous work he did for charity. And I wondered - if it's anonymous, how do we know about it? I don't think our good works should be a show of any kind. We don't need the praise of those around us. We just need to know that we're doing the will of God in all things. Without worrying about who gets the credit, or whether people know our names. That's Christian love. Have a great week!