"Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
The concern is not so much that the deeds themselves not be seen as that our motivation for doing them not be tied up in the praise of others. We know that our motivations have crossed a line when our righteous deeds begin to become a performance done in order for others to see. In other words, they become theatrical, like the comical exaggerations of the Pharisees described by Jesus. We try to convince others and even ourselves that we are playing the role of properly religious individuals. The trouble, when we rely on others for affirmation, is that we close ourselves to the true reward of the only affirmation that will satisfy us, that of God himself.
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
We are content to be satisfied too easily by convincing ourselves that of our righteousness and by receiving the praise and adulation of others who notice that righteousness. But if we allow ourselves to be temporarily sated by the fickle rewards of this world we will not look to our heavenly Father for the reward that only he can give. Our chief reward from the Father is meant to be his unconditional approval, love, and affirmation. We do righteous deeds, not to earn this love, but to celebrate it. Our response, our righteous deeds, are ways to ensure we live in response to his gift, and dispose ourselves to fully receive the reward he desires to give.
Brothers and sisters, consider this:
whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,
and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
When we try to seize a reward for ourselves we find it increasing difficult to grasp, slipping through our fingers like water. The mysterious but verifiably true law of the spiritual life is that we can receive only in the measure that we give. Trying to fulfill our own desires is a recipe for mixed results at best. Instead, the more we can learn to give to others what we would wish for ourselves the more we will find ourselves open to greater blessings. For example, do we feel the desire for more affirmation and more love from others? Rather than trying to strategize a way to persuade others to give it we might first try showing more love and affirmation to others and see if it doesn't in the end redound back to us.
Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you,
so that in all things, always having all you need,
you may have an abundance for every good work.
It is God who provides the grace that allows us to act in righteousness, him who provides the seed we sow. Only he himself can be the reward who satisfies us in the end. Let us stop indulging in the theater of pretended self-sufficiency where we heroically earn all we desire. All that we have and all that we are is from God. Only surrendered back to him will it find fulfillment.
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