Pay It Backward

Doing something nice can be exhilarating, exhausting or somewhere in between and it can often depend on how the kindness is received and responded to. 

If we feel appreciated it can be exhilarating and motivate us to serve more.  If we don’t feel appreciated, it can be exhausting and reduce the desire to do more good things.

One way to make our feelings less dependent on other people’s appreciation for the good we’ve done is to instead think of our kindness as appreciation for all the good God has done for us.  This makes our good works more like a pay it backward than a pay it forward.

If I could do that, it would quickly change my expectations from others and would make the good deeds more gratifying at the same time.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people,

especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6:9-10

always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose]. I Cor 15:58b AMP

Another related thought that would change my outlook is if I do my good deeds knowing they are not in vain even if I don’t feel like they were appreciated.  If we do our good deeds for an ‘audience of one’ (my apology for not remembering where I first heard/read that term to properly source it) as if unto the Lord, it will be a very good use of our time.

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, 

because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.  I Cor 15:58b NIV

And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort. I Cor 15:58b The Message

Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:4b NIV

When we live out Colossians 3:23 (Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord), we will experience the truth of I Corinthians 15:58B (your labor for the Lord is not in vain).  Then God will see what is done and will reward us (Matthew 6:4b), perhaps by fueling our desire to serve even more people.