Spiritual Reflection

In 1980 a film came out, “Absence of Malice,” with Paul Newman, Sally Fields and Wilford Brimley. In the end, Paul Newman as a lawyer caught everyone by surprise and when asked why he did what he did, he responded that, “It was the right thing to do.”

Sometimes we can get the impression that doing the right thing always gets a good response…even a reward. We can be convinced this is why we should do good things.. Perhaps we may even think that we do the right thing so that we can get to heaven. Surely we want heaven but we do what is right not because of some transactional compensation but because it is the right thing to do.

I always remember a young grandson who didn’t want to shovel his grandpa’s sidewalk because grandpa wasn’t going to pay him and as the young one said, “He has a lot of money.” The grandson forgot that grandpa would benefit and that was far more important than the grandson getting some extra money.

Scripture does say the worker is entitled to his pay but we do what is right because, “It is the right thing to do.” Jesus did everything without compensation. In fact, HE was rewarded with a terrible death because he chose to do what is right. We pray that we can have the same strength and courage.