Anonymous

I.        Vows of Affirmation

“We devote our daily life to God, and to serving our neighbors as images of God”

5. I will daily seek to do good for someone without reward or recognition.

Heard about guerilla goodness, anonymous or random acts of kindness, paying-it-forward?  People voluntarily giving up their right to be recognized, to be thanked, to be pleased with themselves, to receive some kind of gain from their good actions? Most Western economic thinkers who trust the “invisible hand” of self-interest see giving it up as unlikely human behavior—and they are right. Yet this is exactly what Christ calls his followers to and models the same himself.  One of the earliest Christian confessions about Jesus, Philippians 2:6-11, makes clear that he gave up his right to gain from his privileged status and obedient actions—willing to suffer for doing good rather than receiving his deserved reward for it!

God’s ironic way left Jesus with far more reward and recognition than if he had initially demanded what he deserved for his status and good works, “regarding equality with God as something to be exploited.” Jesus gave up his privilege and rights for recognition and suffered for doing good, but in the end “God highly exalted him” because of it.

And the same falls true for us. If in obedience to God’s call we seek to do good without expectation of anything good in return, we may also receive suffering rather than clear reward. That said, we also take comfort in Matthew’s repeated refrain: “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you,” even though we cannot anticipate how or when. But in the end it is ultimately God’s glorification, “God’s good pleasure” and the well being of others that motivate our doing good toward them.  In that hope and motive we have strength to carry out this vow: “I will daily seek to do good for someone without reward or recognition.”

Options For Reflection and Action:

(1) Read  Philippians 2:1-13

• Name all the things you receive as a result of doing good to others. Which of these things serve your “selfish ambitions” (2:3) or “God’s good pleasure” (2:13)?
• What “interests of others” (2:4) are you being called to look after in place of your own this week? Take some time to initiate some anonymous acts of compassion.
• Pray for God to direct your secret good words and deeds so that they “work for God’s good pleasure” rather than just benefiting your own.

(2) Consider Luke 6:35 (Love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing in return) as you reflect with this short verse from, Tales of a Magic Monastery by Theophane the Monk:

The Audacity of Humility

I walked up to an old, old monk and asked him, “What is the audacity of humility?” This man had never met me before, but do you know what his answer was? “To be the first to say ‘I love you.’”

• To whom are you being called to say and enact, “I love you” even though they may never return it? In a few sentences, articulate why you are committed to doing so.
• What inspiring stories of anonymous or unrewarded compassion have you heard? Recount the story to someone else today.

Prayer Focus

Compassionate God, you have called us to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Counter-intuitive Jesus, you have called us to expect nothing good in return for our love.

We may receive no recognition, we may gain nothing,

we may even suffer for our words and actions,

 but help us to follow you in secretly doing good today

so that someday “every knee should bend, and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.”

 Amen.