Friday, November 30, 2018
Matthew 25:37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ..."
UNSEEN GIVING
This kind of giving does not depend on receiving thanks, having already received life -- and everything needed for it -- richly and daily. Once a father sought to teach this to his three sons. They lived in an area that received a lot of snow, and he asked the brothers to shovel the snow from the sidewalk of an elderly widow who lived up the street from them. But this was how they were to do it: They were to get up early in the morning, long before daylight and go out to shovel when no one would see them. They could expect no thanks, but as the father knew would happen, God received thanks from the widow for her unknown benefactors, just as He did for those she knew about.
This kind of giving does not come naturally to us, for because of the sinful human nature clinging to us, as soon as we're aware of having done something unselfish, our pride taints the gift.
So how can we grow in unselfish giving? Actually not by concentrating on our giving at all, but by giving our attention to something else. And our Lord has supplied that something else, namely what we have received, "The kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world." That's how it was for the righteous in Matthew 25. The Lord had seen every gift that they had given to Him, but they were unaware of it all. They were concentrating on the forgiveness and life that they had received from their Savior.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus. His mercy endures forever!
