Haha We all like to be seen
but with God, our reward is always sure,
unless we do things to be seen of other humans,
then we have our reward, right then and there
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.
Matthew 6:1
This is a form of pride
The rich young ruler knew what good things he had done Mark 10:17-27
Jesus said to him after he asked Jesus
what he needed to do to inherit eternal life:
Thou knowest the commandments,
Do not commit adultery,
Do not kill,
Do not steal,
Do not bear false witness,
Defraud not,
Honour thy father and mother v 19
And he answered and said unto him,
Master, all these have I observed from my youth. v 20
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him,
One thing thou lackest:
go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven:
and come, take up the cross, and follow me. v 21
None of the good things that rich young ruler were good enough
or were what Jesus was looking for from him
Jesus beholding him, loved him
He even invited that rich young ruler to follow him
to give up what was important to him in this life,
but he refused
Such a sad story
It is so hard to do the things God asks of us sometimes,
instead, we want to give Jesus what we want to give Him,
not what He asks of us:
Humility and the ability to put our flesh aside
and the things of this world aside to follow Him
The Pharisee, in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax gatherer,
told God all the good things he had done,
and how much better he was than the tax gatherer:
And he spake this parable unto certain
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous,
and despised others:
Two men went up into the temple to pray;
the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,
God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing afar off,
would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other:
for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased;
and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Luke 18:9-14
Simple truth, whatsoever we do for God, keeping it before Him
and not to be seen of humans will be rewarded by Him,
what we do to be seen of other humans, to exalt ourselves,
will not see a reward from God,
but perhaps another kind of fleshly reward
And whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Matthew 23:12
Easy choice? Not exactly,
but we can keep trying to remain humble before God
and to trust Him,
at least we’ll make it sometimes that way