Repaying Kindness

Can we repay kindness? Can you show kindness without expecting to be repaid?

We give and receive acts of kindness daily. Kindness can be shown as advice, money, support, gifts, caring, forgiveness, shelter, food, clothing, help/assistance, respect, sympathies etc.

Generally, we think that when someone does something good for us and we subsequently show this person appreciation or kindness that this means we have repaid or equalled or zeroed out the kind act.

However, kindness once given or received cannot be duplicated or recalled in the future. It does not matter whether you believe that the act of kindness is of little importance or inconsequential: each act of kindness, even when it looks similar to previous acts/deeds, is unique to the day in which it is given or received. This is because you cannot recreate or duplicate time, day and the totality of the surrounding circumstances that gives rise to the persons need for kindness. It does not matter if the kindness you received was big or small. You needed something and someone provided it at the time of your need.

Do not burden yourself by trying to outdo or diminish another person’s act of kindness. Kindness is not a loan and you should not expect to be repaid. When you show kindness, be grateful that you were able to give, and when you receive kindness be grateful that you are able to receive. A grateful person is usually happier than someone who does not understand gratitude. Let your show of appreciation of kindness be true, knowing, that you can never repay kindness no matter how small or inconsequential you deem it to be. Today is a brand new beginning, another fresh new start. Adopt the right attitude for giving and receiving and become empowered by both the spiritual and physical benefits.

Thank you for joining me today and I pray that God grants you heavenly wisdom to discern what is important in the way you live.

© 2021 The Eomma Talks. All Rights Reserved.

Pursuit of Success

In the search for security and happiness, Man is preconditioned to pursue success. In this quest, some seek religious dogma and the purpose of life as a means to obtain success whilst others, alternatively, indulge self and pursue their own interests. Regardless, people are really following a course already preconceived, by others, for them. Invariably, this journey becomes a journey of individualism that puts focus on self and self alone. Unless a person learns and understands that Man was not put together on earth to experience life as an individual but as part of a community, this passage of self will be full of loneliness, fear, and anxiety.

On earth, when journeying towards success, Man places the love of self as the most important aspect of living. Consciously, or unconsciously, people are initiated into a worldwide desire or cult by adopting the school of thought that Self (individualism) is supreme. When prepared, as early as childhood, to undertake this journey, people have undergone this conditioning and manipulation of their thoughts and ambition by their family, friends and society (fellow men). On a sober level, getting an education, a “good” job, a beautiful home and being generally successful is at the core purely individualistic. Love for family, neighbour and community is seen as irrelevant and inconsequential to who that person is as an individual. People are conditioned to believe that the importance of family and community does not play any role in the path to security & happiness (success). As a result, the sole purpose of a person’s existence becomes that of self-gratification. However, Man’s way to success has left many in physical and spiritual poverty. Cases of mental health problems have increased, whilst the issue of overwhelming loneliness seem unresolvable.

In this discussion, I set out to see what the Bible reveals about God: does God believe in individualism? And, therefore, is God individualistic? Was Man made to be an individual or to play a greater role as part of a community?

Starting in Genesis, the narration of creation emphasised firstly, the importance of union and identifying Man’s bond to God. Next, we are given the genealogy of the ‘first’ family – Adam and Eve and their off- springs – for this is of second importance. Thereafter, Genesis earmarks particular communities, and through their interactions/engagements, emphasises the importance of Man’s tie to God and his family. It follows, that God sees Man as one creation and treats Man as a community. Therefore, it is impossible to divorce or isolate oneself from God (source), family (bloodline) and community.

God revealed Himself and used the Prophets for the benefit of the community and not themselves. When we read the accounts of figures like Abraham (who is the father of the nations) and Joseph (who had the gift of dream interpretation) their success was not an individualistic search for security and happiness. Rather, they obtained success by recognising they were being used by God for the benefit of the community. The Book of Job also illuminates this message as, although very wealthy, Job’s love of God was not based on what God could do for Him but, instead, what Job can do for God. Moreover, in understanding how to live, the book of Proverbs gives focused advice and guidance on how man can obtain security and happiness. Lastly, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in the New Testament demonstrates God’s principle: Man is a community therefore, Man is redeemed as a community.

Through all the narrations and revelations contained in the Bible, we can answer: that God does not practice individualism or the pursuit of Self, nor does He want us to live life here on earth in this manner. In the search for security and happiness, people have to resist the conditioning and replace society’s dangerous dogma of self with the following:

  • self-centred living is the opposite of God’s mandated way of living;
  • it is impossible to divorce or isolate oneself from God, family and community
  • identify your family history (as within its story carries the record of rewards & penalties related to your bloodline and this can explain why certain experiences occur);
  • God sees man as a class action; a community speaks louder than an individual and punishment and blessings are delivered accordingly (Sodom & Gomorrah).
  • likewise, community is similar to a passport – it acts as form of identity.
  • God has laws, principles and operates by them;
  • God has secrets, some of which He shares with a person for the benefit of the community;
  • God will direct a warning or give advice (i.e. through a dream) to a person for the benefit of the community;
  • God does not control our mind or thought and we should guard our mind for the preservation of the community; and
  • knowing that every man dies and will move to another lifetime, buttresses why we should live for the community for it will continue long after we are gone.

In conclusion, if a person pursues success through self, as a means of getting security and happiness, it will elude them and the journey will be lonely, fearful, and anxious. Therefore, understanding Man was put together on earth to experience life as part of a family and community makes a person’s journey to security and happiness one filled with companionship, strength, confidence, and peace.

Thank you for joining me today and I pray that God grants you heavenly wisdom to discern what is important in the way you live.

© 2021 The Eomma Talks. All Rights Reserved.