July 17 Daily Pause
July 17, 2020 | Amos Shroll
READ: Matthew 6:1-4
REFLECTION: Have you ever done something for someone else and you felt like it went unnoticed? Maybe for family or a friend? A kind or loving act that you wish would’ve been recognized? Or maybe you even choose to do something for so that someone would take notice and finally thank you for your hard-work, benevolence, and generosity?
Jesus instructs us to love God and love others in Matthew 22: 36-40, even so much to say “all the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.” We choose to love and serve others because it is the heart of God, and He even speaks to the significance of living a life which outwardly demonstrates His love and our changed hearts: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:26).
In following God and choosing to serve Him, what we see in Matthew 6 is that when we do anything for our own earthly glory or for the praise of man, we receive now in full a glory that is merely fleeting and temporary.
BUT. When we choose to humble ourselves and love, honor, and bless God and others over ourselves…
Our Heavenly Father, who sees it and all other things that are done in secret, will reward and bless you in ways you cannot see or imagine. And as we see in Philippians 2:1-11, it reflects the humility of Christ Jesus who humbled himself to death on a cross.
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
PRAYER: Father, thank You for the ways that You have loved and served us unconditionally, even to the point of death on a cross. We praise You because You rose again victoriously and are now exalted above every other name. And the best part of all is that we get to join in that same death and resurrection into glorious life. So help us to recognize the ways we can serve and love others the way You did, not for our own glory but for Yours, knowing You will bless us.