True Heroes

Wednesday's Devotion (4-5-06)

"Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly." Matthew 6:1-4 (KJV)

This television commercial that I'm sure many of you have seen, reminds me a lot of these verses here. Check out this commercial: http://www.thetruth.com/index.cfm?Found=TV_Samaritan. This commercial is so true too. There's nothing worse than running an expensive advertisement to show that you gave a small amount to charity. There's nothing worse than meeting a Christian that likes to brag about all their 'great' works. It's because of these verses that I don't like to talk about all my works. I don't want to receive a bunch of e-mails, "Thank you! Thank you for what you've done!" I would much rather receive my reward from God than from all of you. No offense, but God does give better gifts.

BUT good works aren't about good rewards. When you do good works you should have a good reason in your heart for doing them. You know the reasons that include: Helping others, pleasing God, feeling good about yourself. Doing good works should never be about winning a popularity contest. Good works shouldn't be a form of effective advertising, it should be genuine and it should be because you care. It shouldn't be about anything else. If you see a baby rolling in a cart out into the street do you look around and make sure someone sees you save it, or do you just rush to the baby's aid? I don't care who sees me, all I care about is saving that child. I don't need a medal that tells the world I'm some kind of hero. All I need is the feeling of being a hero to someone and the feeling of pleasing God. I don't need anyone to know that I'm a hero of sorts. I guess if Batman were real, he'd be a great example. I mean he wears a mask to save people, and people don't know who is really saving them! I'm a big Batman fan, so excuse that horrible example. But seriously, there's nothing I hate more than hearing someone tell a great heroic story about themselves. It's like, "Excuse me while I go to the rest room and vomit." When people do that it's not shining a light and it reaps no reward from God only from vulnerable humans. Vulnerable humans who don't realize that the person only did something good for good publicity. The true heroes are the people who don't brag about it.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins and we forgive all those who've wronged us. Help us not to be braggers, help us to be pleasers of you God and not men. It can be very hard not to brag so some of us could really use your help with this. In Jesus name. A-men!

God bless!

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