A while back I was chatting with some amazing friends of mine. One of them is a mom of 4 kiddos and so sometimes while she's talking she gets interrupted. In this case as she was sending an audio message her youngest walked in and I could hear her crying in the background. Although I couldn't understand what the little girl was so upset about her mom had an amazing reply.
"You can't do a nice thing with meanness in your heart. When you do a nice thing you need to keep a smile on your face and do it with a good attitude."
Wow! That was the conviction I needed right at that moment! See I wasn't at home chatting with my friends I was at my brother's house. He's been recovering from knee surgery and I was there helping take care of him and my nieces and nephew. Due to his surgery he's out of work for a while and so my sister-in-law (who had been a stay-at-home mom) returned to work. In that first few weeks after his procedure they needed a lot of help so my mom and I, along with others, tried to provide it- taking him to doctor's appointments, caring for the kids, getting the oldest kiddo back and forth from school, etc.
Taking care of kids is always exhausting. Taking care of kids that aren't your own and taking care of a sibling who's recovering from a big surgery? Not any easier. So while I'd been talking to my friends I'd been sharing my exhaustion, the things that I was stressed about and some of the issues that I'd been dealing with while at my brother's.
There was nothing wrong with talking to my friends about these things. The problem was that I was edging dangerously close to a bad attitude. I knew from that moment of conviction that my heart needed to be in the right place.
Galatians 1:10
"Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ."
Philippians 2:3, 4
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."
Matthew 6:1
"Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven."
Or maybe this is the one that sums it up best of all. 1 Timothy 1:5
"The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."
Sometimes we need to share our burdens with others. There is nothing wrong with that. But be it difficult times or frustrating people we always need to make sure that our motives are pure. God judges the heart. When He looks into yours what does He see? Are you doing good deeds on the outside but with meanness in your heart on the inside? Or does the smile on your face match the purity on the inside?
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