A servants heart does not boast.

Are you showing fruits of the spirit?

“Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned OR IN ORDER THAT I MAY GLORY, but have not love (God’s love in me), I gain nothing.” (1Cor 13:3) Messiah Yeshua gave us specific instructions concerning how we are to pursue our charitable deeds: they were to be done quietly, even secretly, without drawing undue attention to ourselves (see Mat 6:1-4). Anything else is labeled hypocritical and “play-acting,” not worthy of recognition, or much of a reward. When we seek to gain recognition, acceptance, and love through our good works and actions, we have perverted what YHWH created us for. We have doomed ourselves to eventual failure. YHWH our Elohim created us needing to be loved, needing to be accepted, and needing to be needed. However, those needs are to be met first in and through Him, then in each other, and not in any other way. Too often we get things backward, try to find love in being recognized, and for all the wrong reasons. Most often this recognition will end up in an ego-trip, self-exaltation, and self-love, which is not God’s way. The Word of God teaches us that there is not one good thing that dwells within us (Rom 7:18), and that our hearts are both deceitful and wicked, and cannot be trusted (Jer 17:9). It is only because of YHWH’s love that has been poured in our hearts by the His Spirit (who was given to us) that we even begin to understand what the love of our Elohim is all about (Rom 5:5). And one of the first things that we learn is that it is not about us; it is all about Him. Am I striving to draw subtle attention to myself in my act of giving? Do I have ulterior motives when I choose to give? Do I truly give without expecting anything in return, or am I continuously waiting to be reciprocated? Is there one to whom I should have given, but did not, and do I now need to ask forgiveness of that person? Father, forgive me for my wrong motives in my giving—if only I would learn to not let the right hand know what the left hand is doing! Teach me to be self-less, and Messiah-like, that the image of Messiah Yeshua would be reflected in and through me to the world around me. Teach me to give, not of obligation, but because of the love You have poured out upon me. In the Name that is above every name, Yeshua of Nazareth, I pray! Amein… “For Elohim so LOVED THE WORLD that He gave His only brought-forth Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but possess everlasting life.” (John 3:16) M. Marx