Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. Galatians 6:4
“This then is the first good activity of the perfect man, when it is done not because of any usefulness in his own affairs, but because he considers it right to do good. His activity being borne along with enthusiasm becomes good in every act, not being good in these matters and bad in those. But it is settled in a disposition towards good conduct, not for the sake of glory, nor as the philosophers say for good report, not for the sake of reward whether from men or from God, but to bring one’s life in accordance with the image and likeness of the Lord.”
Clement of Alexandria (150-215) in Stromateis, Book IV, 137; Book II 308, 333 as recounted in The Philosophy of Clement of Alexandria, Texts and Studies: Contributions to Biblical and Patristic Literature, ed. C. H. Dodd (Cambridge: University Press, 1957) 99.
I found this excerpt in a book on my visit to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Library of Alexandria), the second largest library in the world (pictured above). This excerpt comes from Stromateis (which is translated “Miscellanies”), which is the collection of good advice from Clement the Instructor of the Catechetical School of Alexandria.
So, what’s Clement’s advice for those who want to be generous?
We need to do good for the only right reason, which is for the glory of God. Do not do good for reward or for being able to give a good report (perhaps so that we might get praise of people) but for bringing our lives into conformity with the “image and likeness of the Lord.”
We must want people to see Jesus when they see us. That is what the “perfect” or “mature” person desires. My charge to readers everywhere today, echoing Clement, is to do good activities with enthusiasm. You will figure out as you live out this instruction that it shapes people and circumstances.
People cannot help but notice such good activity or generosity.
At that moment, don’t say to yourself, “I want to do this again for people to like me.” Or maybe, “If I do this my boss will give me a pay raise.” The mature person says, “I do this because I want everyone around me to see the love of God today. Do it for that reason.
Soon we welcome the advent or coming of our Lord Jesus on Christmas. What a day to celebrate! In the meantime, let us make the most of every opportunity to do good activity with enthusiasm, so that people see Jesus through us. That’s my prayer so that each day is like Christmas.
We want our arrival or advent in any setting to be like Jesus in the room. When that’s our aim, we are generous, and He is glorified.