I'm Paraphrasing But…

Think twice before you post your good deeds on Facebook so people can like them; doing so doesn’t make your heavenly Father proud.

When you are doing something for the poor and you post about the good work you are doing, then do a press release so everyone will know that you are the 'church that really cares', don’t expect a reward from God, you're already getting your publicity.

It would be a lot better if you just did it; not did it and uploaded it, you can do good without the social media knowing about it.

The internet might not know all about it but God sure would, and isn’t him we are seeking to please?

We should pray, but we don’t have to make sure we tweet it out that everyone can share our wonderfully written words. Prayer is talking to God, not another way we can promote ourselves and our agendas. Once again God isn’t impressed.

Rather than put it out there, how about we keep it to ourselves. God hears it when we are alone and he is the one that is able to answer our prayers. So why do we need to publish it?

Long flowery discourses and cutting social insight may be impressive to the world but God’s heard it all before.

That is not the way to pray, God doesn’t need to be informed by you.

Praying to God is best when it is rather simple. Acknowledging Him and His greatness. Seeking His will. Requesting his aid in what we need. Asking Him to help us to be better than what we are and guide us out of things that might keep us from Him.

If we can’t do these things who are we to be telling the world about our goodness.

A Christian's sacrificial actions are not so we can benefit from the photo opp. So our friends will think, “Look what they gave up because they are so holy.” It’s a lot better to hide our works than to flaunt them. God isn’t finding out about our deeds because we have a social media presence, He knows what we do even if no one else does.

For lots of folks, the buzz and accolades are the prize, but those are not going to last. Todays' trending is forgotten tomorrow when someone else comes along and steals the spotlight. The real reward is from God, and He won’t forget.

Doing good is only good when our heart is in the right place.

Comments

Until Midnight

In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back. I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...

The Mighty Gulf

It is hard to get people on two sides of an issue to come together. Each has their own viewpoint, their perceptive, their own foibles, their own understanding. To gain any common ground there must be something in common. Something or someone that can bridge the gulf between the two. Could there be a greater gulf than there was between God and man? How could a holy perfect God find a way to connect to the fallen, imperfect mankind? How can one without temptation connect to those who are beset by it? How could limited mortal beings understand an omnipotent eternal God? In 1 Timothy 2:5, we read, “ For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus .” The phrase mediator here describes a person that bridges the gap, a go-between. Jesus was one who could stand in both worlds. A perfect holy one who can understand our temptations, a man who would die yet live eternally, One who was God yet became flesh and dwelt among us. ...

How Dare You!

Lewis Keseberg was tired of all the accusations against him so he filed a defamation lawsuit against Ned Coffeemeyer the man he saw as responsible for the rumors. The court found that Ned had indeed called Keseberg a “thief and murderer” without any proof but it didn’t rule very strongly in his favor by only imposing a fine of one dollar. Maybe they were lenient because Ned Coffeemeyr had earlier rescued Lewis Keseberg from a terrible situation. Maybe it was because the accusations while not proven were highly likely. And maybe because Lewis Keseberg had admitted to eating people. Lewis Keseberg was one of the members of the infamous Donner Party, a wagon train that got caught in the Siera Nevada mountain and resorted to cannibalism to survive. Keseberg wasn’t known as a very good person before those events and they certainly didn’t help improve his image. But to sue the very person who saved you seems to define the kind of person he was....

Ecclesiastes 12:10

Search This Blog