“The RoseBouquet”

First, we are not to show off our acts of righteousness, says Jesus in His sermon on the mountainside. If we aim to impress others with our good works, we have all the reward we’re going to get, for God the Father cancels the one He had in mind for us.

Jesus gives an example. If you are giving to the needy, don’t announce it to the public with trumpets. as the hypocrites do. They want to be recognized and honoured for their “giving.”

Instead, Jesus says, when we do our giving to the needy, for instance, our alternate hand should not be aware of it.

I have trouble picturing this. My hands do most things together. There are times I multi-task and have each hand doing a slightly different job, (my supervisor insisted I learn that when I was a telephone operator), but they are so close that it would be a great sleight of hand trick for one hand to do something without the other hand being aware of it. Yet Jesus says that our giving should be so private that not all parts of our lives would be aware of it.

What of anonymous gifts to others; are they always the best way to give? I’ve received some like that and it forces one to praise God alone for the gift, but the Christian fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ helping one another and being knit closer in love is missing. There is no accountability to the giver, which may be desired by some, but wiser in certain situations.

You may not ponder these questions as often as I do with my longing to be a generous giver like God, but I do feel there must be some finer lessons to learn in this art of giving without fanfare or notice. Perhaps it should suffice us for now to be sure that God does not want us to be show-offs with our giving.

PRAYER: Lord, it sure seems clear that You want us to do our giving quietly and privately or else You see no point in rewarding us for those little (or big) kindnesses. You don’t discuss those rewards, but we can imagine they will be good and worthwhile. So help me to learn to give just for Your eyes, and with Your grace.

+++++Jesus is my King+++++Jesus is my King+++++

Blessings on you Today!
Ruth Marlene Friesen

P.S. Oh, how sweet to have a friend who’d drop everything and come when you need her. Ruthe, the heroine of this novel, dashes away from her own grad when her friend Muriel calls. Don’t you wish you had a loyal, caring friend like that? Buy and READ Ruthe’s Secret Roses!

Incidentally, you may be seeing these P.S. ads over and over, and getting tired of them, but they are finally getting me some sales of my novel, so I’d like to continue them. I’ll try to start adding something more personal and different from time to time, but I’d like to keep something that finally showing to be effective!