I’m the type of person who has high expectations when it
comes to the people in my life. I tend to expect a lot from my family as well
as my close friends. I always remember being taught the Golden Rule: “Do to others
as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31 NIV). Somewhere along the line
that came to mean to me that if you did good things towards other people, those
people would return the favor.
Liiiightbulllllb.
Read that again: “Do to others as you would have them do to
you.” It doesn't say, “Do good to others so that they will do good to you.” Yet,
that was what I had taken it to mean. What it means is that we should treat
other people as we would want to be treated, even if they NEVER treat us well
in return.
Okay, so some of you are saying, “Well duh…” But give me a break. I'm just now figuring this out.
Anyway, I've lived my life expecting that if I wanted
someone to like me, if I wanted to receive good things from people, that I
should do good things to them. Well, I got it half right. As Christians, heck,
as human beings, we should always treat our fellow man with respect, love, and
kindness. But, that doesn't mean that those people will treat us well in
return.
Recently I've come to realize that when I do good things for
others, I need to stop expecting to be thanked, or to be invited over to dinner
in return. I need to stop expecting that good things will always come back to me.
And lastly, there is a fine line between doing good things
for people because it’s the right thing to do, and getting walked over. Even
for Christians, there comes a time when we need to stop bending over backwards
for people who just simply don’t appreciate our efforts. The Bible even has
something to say about this, in Matthew 7:6 where Jesus says not to “cast your
pearls before swine.” Even Jesus wants us to be wise with our gifts and to whom
we bestow our treasures. It’s not a matter of being unkind towards people.
It’s a matter of being wise with our gifts and blessings.
PS: I hope you read the title of this post in the voice of Gru from Dispicable Me. That is all.
Nice. I liked it. Though I am not religious I actually related to it and understand. I have actually been feeling the same way internally. All this effort for other for .... (what)? I can related. Good post.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Victor!
ReplyDelete