Jesus also assumes that there is benefit to be had from doing these things. Many people imagine that he is asking us to do everything with no thought of reward, and are then rather shocked when he repeats, three times, his belief that our heavenly father will repay us (Matthew 6 verses 4, 6, 18). Clearly, Jesus is not so bothered about the notion of disinterested behaviour, or ‘altruism’, as we sometimes are. In fact, what he says is far more realistic. If we struggle to clear our hearts of any desire
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