Ol’ Fuzzy’s been gone from this blog too long. Accept my apology for the silence. I’m getting back into it.
Today’s post begins the sixth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. The sermon in Matthew is large enough to span three chapters. Sort of like the sermons of certain somnolence inducing preachers today. Jesus was continuing:
“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. 2 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 blory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth: 4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.”
Again, Jesus is speaking about the intentions behind the actions. If it is your intention to be seen as a good person by the people around you, nothing you do that is good is of any benefit to your soul. Your reward is the acclaim of the people who see you at it. But if you do good out of love for the person in need of it, your reward is in your soul. It is the fullest growth of your soul that Jesus is interested in, not merely the good deeds you may do. That is one definition of love. It is because Jesus loves us that He wants us to grow to the fullest extent of our potential.
The wording about heaven is not referring to some pie-in-the-sky hereafter. Heaven is a realm that is both here and now. Our reward in heaven is also a reward in our own souls. Therefore, doing good for the sake of the one in need is also doing good for the sake of our own souls. Remember that whatever you do in the physical world has an effect in the spiritual and psychoid worlds. The ripples of the act are directed by the underlying intent. So if you intend only to please people, you will have less impact for good in the other realms. But if you act out of love for the one in need, your impact is world spanning.
To act out of love is spontaneous. You don’t have to plot and plan for it. You don’t need trumpets or drums to do it. You just do whatever is necessary to alleviate any problems. Looking at the whole sermon from that point of view, we can see that it is the love that matters, not the act. When you view the world with the same kind of love that God views it, you don’t look for advantages in doing things. You do things to better the lot of others. That is what matters.
I know this is short today, I have a lot on my burner. I will try to be a little more regular in posting these notes.
Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until September. If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. You can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.
