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| After church today |
So today's sermon was interesting. As Pastor said, not terribly deep, but certaintly contemplation-worthy. I think doing selfless things is hard. By nature, most of us are pretty selfish; in today's age of living our lives on facebook, we tend to advertise when we do something nice for someone. A facebook friend recently posted a pic of a good deed they did for someone. Why? For a pat on the back? So everyone can tell you how great and clever you are, and gee you're SUCH a humanitarian?
In the story of Joshua, God tells him to build 2 memorials using 12 rocks. One, on the other side of the River Jordan to commemorate the momentous crossing of the river. The other was to be a personal, private memorial in the MIDDLE of the River Jordan, underneath the water that only Joshua and God knew about. Our public lives are important; how we present ourselves, the example we lead for other people, how we act, etc. But our private lives are JUST as important. Do you spend more time getting your hair and makeup right for church than you do preparing your heart and mind to hear God's Word?
What happnes in your private life sets the stage for your public one.
Matthew 6:3 says when you do something nice for someone, you will be openly rewarded by God when you do it in PRIVATE. So, if you give money, help them out, whatever, you will be rewarded by Him when you DON'T go around bragging about it.
Matthew 6:6 says when you pray "in secret", literally go into a closet to pray, you will be openly rewarded for it.
Mathew 6:18 says if you fast, do it and then don't tell everyone about it expecting pats on the back. It's between you and God. When you fast, you don't show it to the world.
I've known quite a few self-righteous women with long hair that wear skirts that think they're superior to us short haired, pants wearing sinners. They may LOOK right on the outside, but that self-righteous attitude tells the world they're NOT right on the inside. God know you, ALL of you, 100% of you. He knows your motivations, your reasons, your everything. You don't need to go posting pics of you doing nice things in the hopes that maybe it'll go viral in order to feel a sense of accomplishment.
God LOVES you. Work on your outward appearance, but also work on your private thoughts and motivations. DO good deeds and nice things, but be secure enough in your self that you do it for NO other reason than to help someone else out. What you sow here on Earth is what you will reap in Heaven.
