"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. "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. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
When I walk up to someone's house and see the word BEWARE on their door or fence, it causes me to pause. From my experience, that word is usually followed by the words "of dog" and can only mean that there is a vicious animal close by who could cause harm. In this passage, I hope the use of the word 'beware' causes us to pause as well. It is used as a warning.
Jesus calls us to "beware of practicing [our] righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them." See, I am a self-proclaimed people-pleaser. This is not something I am pleased to admit, but it is true. I long to please others for the sake of getting on their good side and having them like me. It's a slippery slope, people-pleasing, because it's easy for me to hold other people in the same esteem that I should only place God. Yet, only God should be the audience of who I am trying to please. He should be the ONLY one. The slippery slope of it all is that people-pleasing can easily turn to "hypocrite" which is the term used in the following sentence in this passage. "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." A hypocrite is someone who does good acts for appearances only -- not out of compassion or other loving motives. I used to think that term could only describe the Pharisees, but yet, I find how quickly my motives can turn, too.
Do you notice how no where in this passage, does Jesus command us WHAT to give to the needy, WHEN to give to the needy, or to WHICH of the needy we should give? What I find most interesting about these four verses on the topic of "giving to the needy" is that it has very little to do about the needy and completely to do about my heart.
We think we are being sneaky when we look good on the outside to others, but inside we are feeling all puffed up because our minds are reeling with how great someone must think we are because of what we did. And yes, "man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Sam. 16:8). The men who will like you one day and ignore you the next, judge you by what they see on the outside because that is all they are capable of seeing. But, your Lord, who loves you and made you, sees the deepest parts of our hearts and motives. He is the One I want to try to please.
And this does not return to us void. If I practice my righteous acts for the sake of other people seeing, the "beware" will happen: "then you will have no reward from your father in heaven." When we do our good deeds for the praise of others, Jesus says, "Truly, they have received their reward." That's it! That's all we'll get for doing that good deed -- a few nice words from an acquaintance. Rather, we are to give our gifts and do our kind acts in private. "And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." We don't know exactly what that reward will be, but I can tell you that it will surely be better than the fleeting praise of fickle friends!
Our gift-giving, generosity, and acts of kindness should not be done so that we look good, my friends, but so that God looks good. He is pleased more by our pure hearts and our devotion to Him than by the amount of our gift-giving.
May this be our prayer today from Psalm 139 as we continue seeking a heart like His:
"Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!"
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