Matthew 6:1-4 (ESV)
[1] “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in
order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who
is in heaven.
[2] “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as
the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be
praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
[3] But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your
right hand is doing, [4] so that your giving may be in secret. And
your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
In Matthew 5 Jesus instructed his disciples to pray in secret. In chapter 6
he tells them to give in secret. The first few times I saw an online video
where someone paid for a stranger’s bill or gave a homeless person a meal and
some money, I thought that it was inspiring. But the more I have reflected on
it, the more self-serving it seems. If it was about helping someone, why was it
recorded? No doubt some of those making these posts are selfless, and some of
these posts have inspired others to give. Yet, the video likely gained the people
involved more followers, perhaps more paid clicks, and certainly more online visibility.
Was it a way of helping, or just a way to get more hits on their posts?
Jesus is not saying that we need to be secretive. That is, there is no need
to hide your non-profit contributions from the IRS in order to be obedient to
this command. We don’t give because there is a deduction on our tax returns,
but there is certainly nothing wrong with paying the IRS less. That’s just good
stewardship. While our giving may not be secretive, it is to be secret. Giving
is not about publishing our giving. It is not about getting good press. It’s
not about impressing someone. If we give with a check, or if we give online
then someone knows what we gave. We don’t need to go to extremes to guarantee
that no one knows. But we don’t publish that information either; we don’t brag
about it to others. Even though we take a deduction on our taxes, it’s not
about deductions. Whether it is giving to the church, giving to an organization
that helps people, or giving to a needy individual or family, our giving is to
the Lord,
These instructions about private prayer and private giving are not just
another rule to memorize and obey. They are a not so much about being secretive
as they are about guarding against obedience for the sake of appearance. Any
time we need to let other people know how spiritual we are, how much Bible we
know, how many hours we spend in prayer, how much we give, we need to check our
own hearts. Why do we feel that we need to reveal those things? Is our service
to God or is it to look good to people? Beware of the need to impress people.
It is a dangerously slippery slope.
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