Hello and welcome back my beautiful brother/sister and friend. As always, it is a pleasure having you here sharing with us. For today's post we're going to be discussing a part of Jesus' Sermon of the Mount. More specifically, the part that deals with the helping of others and how we as christians should act when it comes to lending a hand. Before we begin, and as we've been doing for the past few posts, I invite to see the summary of this post in the video I have prepared; if you're more the reading type, then no problem! Feel free to skip the video and keep reading :)
Saw the video? What are your thoughts? Please, feel free to share any feedback, comments or questions. Ok, with this, let's now dive in. This should be a pretty straightforward, quick and direct conversation.
It's all about selflessness
As we have done in just about every single post we've posted, before we start any discussion, it's important to take a look at what the Bible says. Remember, the Bible and solely the Bible is our life guide and the Word of the Living God. Let's take a look at what Jesus said we should/should not do when helping others and we'll expand the conversation from there:
"Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore,when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly." - Matthew 6:1-4
To some degree, the text pretty much explains itself, no? A quick analysis leads us up to the fact that helping is all about a selfless act. Now, you might ask, why did I chose to write about this topic? Well, let me tell you...
Social Media... and "helping"
Odds are that you have seen the typical social media video of a person giving another less fortunate person (financially or otherwise) significant amounts of money. Not always money but, a person helping another in some way. Have you seen those? Well, as of lately I keep seeing them over and over and over which, to some degree is a good thing that there are others out there willing to help... the question is, who are they helping? The things people are willing to do for a few extra likes and followers in media are mind-blowing... and it's no surprise that helping others for the sake of gaining those extra likes might just be another technique.
No, we are not here to judge, that is God's job. What we're here to do is to study God's word and understand what He asks from us. In this case, what He asks from us when it comes to lending a hand is pretty clear, isn't? Back when Jesus walked through the streets of Jerusalem, the wealthy enjoyed 'helping' others by boasting and making an entire display in front of others when giving so that the people around would take note and think of them as 'saints' and 'good persons'. Jesus took note of this practice and denounced it. When those men did it to gain earthly praise, the had already gotten their reward. In the end, they were not helping because they wanted to help, but because they wanted to look good. The intention wasn't truly to serve (be selfless), but to gain praise (selfishness). They did not help necessarily because they wanted others to be good, but because they had something to gain by doing so.
So what am I saying? I am saying that helping others is good, in fact, many times over and over in the Bible we are encouraged to give and be a blessing to others because God has been good with us. These are some of the Bible verses in which we're encouraged to give:
2 Corinthians 9:7
Proverbs 11:25
Luke 6:30 and 38
Proverbs 21:26
Matthew 19:21
Psalms 37:21
Needless to say, giving, helping, sharing and being a blessing to others is important. I am also saying (because Jesus tells us so in the Bible) that giving is even better when it is done not for our own gain or self-satisfaction, but that of the one/s we're helping. In fact, as far as God is concerned, giving selflessly is the only giving that 'counts'. Don't follow the trend of helping someone, recording it, and the posting it so the world sees how 'good' you are, do it in secret and from the heart. The world might never know what you did, but God never forgets... and trust me, God's blessing is better than 1,000,000 followers and a rich bank account.
Closing
I told you this was to be a short topic... you might even think of this as just me upset at how distorted social media trends display what 'helping' looks like and ranting about it. I would just like the world to know that helping for personal gain takes away from the act of helping intentioned in the first place. After all, the Bible is pretty clear on where God stands in regards to this topic, just thought I posted a quick reminder.
The world might see the outer image, but God always looks at the heart. Never forget.
Until next one my friend!
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