So once again I have been a little liberal in the rule for the day. The rule actually states do good for good people even when they are down on their luck. The first problem I have with the rule is who are the good people. The rule also says to follow the rule in case it helps you later. Again, I have a problem with doing good only with a motive for our own advantage.
How can we decide who is good? What makes someone good? Is it their skin color, their sex, their gender, their size, their age, their religious affiliation, their behavior, ..? I could go on and on, but the point is that we can never know whether someone is good because “we” can’t even agree on what that means.
God tells us to love our enemies. God tells us to love our neighbor. God tells us to love ourselves. God tells us to love fellow Christians so much that others around us take notice and want to join in. There is nothing compatible with judging others to be good or not and whether we should show them love or not. Love everyone. Love them one at a time as God brings them into your life and love them when they are in need and the need is revealed.
One of the lessons from the Pharisees is that they do their giving in public so everyone can know about it and the Pharisees receive their reward from the public. We are to give in secret and receive a reward from our Father in Heaven. So, I do not like this attitude of only being kind to others down on their luck for our future benefit. Our source of reaching out needs to be selfless and Christlike.
A beautiful aspect of Christ’s love is the He gave His life for us while we were still under the penalty of sin and were sinning. He knew that as humans there was absolutely no “thing” that we could do to ever “help” Him. He is all powerful and doesn’t “need” anything from us. We are to love those around us for their benefit, just as Christ loved us for our benefit.
God created us to love Him and to be loved by Him. He delights in doing good for us and when we thank Him for doing so. Our motivation for being kind to others in need should the joy from helping someone in need and not what they might do for us in the future. We are to hold banquets for those that could never invite us to one.
So be kind to good people in need and maybe they will help you down the road. But also be kind to bad people and to people who you know can never help you. One of the theories of business is that it is a zero sum game and for someone to win, someone has to lose. Love is not a zero sum game. We can give away all the love we could ever imagine and still have infinitely more to give as God is love and provides love overflowing in our hearts when we follow Him. So be kind and then do it again and again and again and delight in the joy God gives you.