Job Chapter 29. Expect nothing in return.
Job reminisces about the days when his health was good and he was blessed by God and he was a blessing to many. Job list numerous examples of how he was a blessing to so many needy people. As a result he was highly respected by people. He had a reputation of being a man of integrity, full of love and kindness and selflessness. It was obviously natural for him to be thinking of the needy and then doing something about it.
Now job is beat down with poor health and experiencing great pain and suffering. He's probably feeling neglected. He reached out to so many people when they were in need and now that he's in need, he's feeling no one is around for him, only accusers.
2 thoughts:
1. As a follower of Jesus Christ, what is my reputation? Am I perceived as a man of integrity? Am I respected by others because of my love and kindness and selflessness?
Let me highlight some thoughts from Romans 12:9-21 — it says we must be sincere with our love. To honor others above ourselves. Be zealous for God. Share with those in need. Practice hospitality. Associate with people in low position. To love our enemies.
Do I do that?
2. Have you reached out to people and loved on them and helped them only to find out when you're in need, no one reaches out to you? You feel alone! You even feel a little bitter toward those you have helped because it's almost as if you feel “They Owe You!”
This is a dangerous thought that's easy to creep into our hearts. If we give to others and help others with the deep embedded expectation that they should acknowledge your act of love and they should be quick to respond when you're in need, then we've missed the meaning of true servanthood.
Luke 6:34-35 gives these thoughts:
We're to love others expecting nothing in return. To have such an attitude is to receive your reward from God. God is kind to The ungrateful and the evil ones. How often has God done for us and we expressed no gratitude? He does it for us because he really loves us. We are to be willing to be kind also to the ungrateful and even our enemies, expecting nothing in return. That's true love and that's true servanthood. Is that my heart?
I think that I can relate to Job in this chapter a little bit as I catch myself thinking back to what I think of as the “glory days” of my life sometimes. It reminded me of when I recently heard on a radio station part of a speech that was given by Ronald Reagan at the Arlington National Cemetery back in 1985. Those old sentimental feelings came back as soon as I heard that voice from my younger days. Everything just seemed so much simpler and less complicated to me back then. Maybe I just didn’t notice if there was hostility and a lack of respect back then like I see all around us today, but it seems like our country is so divided now in many ways with many issues.
I was reminded of a couple of other Bible passages after reading this chapter.
John 15:18-21
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me (Jesus) before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of My name, because they do not know Him who sent Me.”
1 Peter 5:5-11
Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.