Refuse no one the good on which he has a claim
when it is in your power to do it for him.
Say not to your neighbor, “Go, and come again,
tomorrow I will give,” when you can give at once. (Prv 3:27-28)
The citation from Proverbs is good food for thought.
We are all called to do good for others, are we not?
Yet sometimes, even in the doing, there are those who make the doing “work for them”. We know that they are going to give to someone in need. However, they are going to do it in their own time and way, many times at the expense of the person needing help.
If it is in our power to help someone, we must help them without trying to engineer any way to make it look good for ourselves.
Some people wait until they are noticed by others. Some people wait until they get reassurances that they will receive something back from the one who is being helped.
As Jesus would say in one of the Gospels, “they have already been repaid”.
We must do good for another simply because it is asked of us by the Lord.
That, in my books, is reason enough.
FAITH ACTION: Is there anyone you can help today without any opportunity for reward or recognition? Just do it right away.