Disconnected Kindness

Taking Care of Jesus

I don’t know why, but I always felt like it was up to me to make sure Jesus got credit for anything I did in His name. For some reason I thought I should be the one to connect what His Spirit might prompt me to do with His glory.

If an opportunity to help someone in a small or even big way came, my first question was, “How can I let this person know that I’m a Christian, that I’m only doing this because He has changed me and He loves them?” Too often this meant that while I was still debating and calculating in my little brain how to guarantee that everyone would know that this moment was a truly eternal moment, the moment was gone!

I’m ashamed to admit that it didn’t bother me that much. “Sure wish there was a way to glorify Jesus there,” I would tell myself. “Oh well, maybe next time I will get a real opportunity to do something kind in the name of Jesus.”

Taking Care of My Responsibility to Serve Jesus!

We know that Jesus commands us to do good works of compassion and justice in His name. And we know that He promises to reward us when we do. So why do we hesitate?

I’m convinced that this is one of the greatest barriers to His resurrection life being expressed in the world today. We have taken responsibility for His job—glorifying Himself, while disregarding our responsibility to do our job—extend His love to the hurting, the marginalized, the poor, and the powerless.

He’s the one who connects our works to His glory, not us!

What a change this has brought to my life. Now that I don’t have to worry about how these acts of kindness connect to His glory, I can just do them.

Judy and I were putting our groceries in the car after shopping when I noticed an elderly lady struggling with her keys while she tried to wrangle her shopping cart full of heavy grocery bags.

“Let me do that for you, ma’am.”

Such a small thing for me; it took no more than two minutes. As I was pushing her empty cart back to the store and thinking about her, “Oh thank you young man,” I said to my Savior: This is for you, Jesus.

I’m discovering opportunities almost daily and here’s what haunts me. I wonder how many opportunities for kindness, mercy, and compassion I’ve missed because of my arrogant need to make sure it counted for Jesus.

It All Counts!

It all counts, and He, not I and not you, keeps the books!

“And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward ” (Matthew 10:42, NIV).