Tonight I was sitting in my room scrolling through Instagram and I saw several of my friends doing really awesome stuff for Jesus, one of my friends is doing and inspiring others to do a 30 day prayer challenge, another has a really successful Bible verse Instagram account, yet another is incredibly outspoken about her faith and has inspired countless people to come to Jesus, and it goes on and on and on. And I found myself getting a little jealous, maybe jealous isn’t the right word, but I felt like I wasn’t doing good enough, like no matter how hard I try I could never be as well known as this friend or as perfect of a Christian as that friend. I started to feel bad about myself and the things that I do for Jesus instead of being proud of and encouraging my friends.
And later I was thinking about this thought process and I remembered a verse somewhere about encouraging your friends, and another verse about not making your good works known.
Galatians 6:2
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Matthew 6:3
“But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,”
And it occurred to me that my mindset was very un-Christ-like and while it’s great to be encouraged or spurred on by a friend’s good works, it isn’t good to feel like you need to do better so that people know you did better. Doing Christ’s work isn’t always glamorous or successful in a worldly sense. Praising God and doing His good work has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with Jesus. And because of that, sometimes we are not called to be the one reckognized for good works, sometimes we are meant to stay in the background, support our friends and do the stuff that happens behind the scene. And that is just as important.
Hebrews 6:10
“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”
Twitter: @golden_rose_8
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