“Love and desire are the spirit’s wings to great deeds.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
You can tell a lot about people by watching the things that they do. We almost always give our inner selves away by our actions. Not all people are aware of that, though. They think that they are pulling a fast one on us.
For example, there might be a person that always does good things for others at work, in the classroom, on the ball field, wherever that person might be. Everyone sees good things coming from that person. That person might even garner a great reputation as doing good. However, if that person is doing good things for his or her own advancement or recognition, that, too, will be evident rather easily.
We know when someone is being kind to us out of the goodness of their heart or when someone is being kind to us for ulterior motives. We gravitate toward the genuine person and shy away from the duplicitous one. That’s just human nature.
“Love and desire are the spirit’s wings to great deeds.” Goethe shares with us a great pearl of wisdom. We have already determined that there are people who do great deeds. The ones that are authentic or genuine, though, are the ones that are backed by love or desire. In this sense, by the way, “desire” would be the desire for the good of another. These are attributes of the Spirit at work in our lives and when we employ those attributes, people understand that we are doing things out of love.
When we do great deeds purely for self, we are found out quickly. Our deeds will ring hollow if they are not done out of love or if the desire behind our deeds is the desire to get ahead at all cost, even at the cost of another.
There are so many experiences awaiting us today and so many choices that will need to be made. Try your best to meet them out of love and a desire for the good of others.
FAITH ACTION: Make sure that the good deeds that you accomplish today are done so because of your love for the Lord and the desire to serve Him in His people.