But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil – Luke 6:35
“Finally, those people across the street decided it was time to cut their hedges. Truthfully, I was about to go and report them,” Lily Mason said. “Well, I’m glad that’s no longer needed,” Alex said. Later, once inside his house, Alex is questioned by his eleven-year-old son, Philip: “Why didn’t you tell Ms. Mason that it was you who cut the hedges? You deserve to get the credit, not the ones who didn’t do their part.” “Son, there will be those occasions when doing what’s right really isn’t your responsibility. Besides, God saw what I did, and that’s all the credit I need,” Alex responded.
If I were to select a scene from a movie that best demonstrates Luke 6:35, it would be when Robert McCall in The Equalizer 2 cleans graffiti off a wall despite the protests of a teenager named Miles. Instead of stopping, Robert explains, “I guess anybody could do it, but nobody does. Ends up with everybody complaining because nobody did what anybody could’ve done or should’ve done to begin with.” This scene is also reminiscent of Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan, in which the Samaritan, without expecting anything, goes out of his way to show kindness to a Jewish man despite the animosity between their cultures.
When you trust that God sees acts of kindness, then recognition isn’t needed, because you know that “your reward will be great” and that it will be revealed however He chooses.