As He sat to teach His disciples on the hill about Kingdom living, He addressed a number of righteous acts that were already taking place in regular life. His issue was not about the acts themselves, His concern was about the motives.
Have you noticed how often in society, there’s a focus on the self? The golden rule is twisted to focus on how much you should love yourself. The greatest commandment is subtly contorted to really be based on how much you love yourself. So on that basis, it’s no surprise that something like giving, should be more about you than it is about someone else.
When He sat and delivered on teaching, the King highlighted a motive in the practice that would not seem amiss today. A group referred to as hypocrites would have a tendency not just to give but to make their giving an occasion for public adulation. An opportunity for people to see just what great people they were for giving. That is to say, giving was more about them and their self-righteousness than it was about a cause or the target of their giving.
What motivates your giving? As He sat to teach them, the King made it clear that giving should be done in secret as an act of righteousness to the Father in heaven. Giving is a spiritual interaction for the pleasing of the Father than any self-centred approach. That way as the Father sees, so the Father will respond. As the Father sees it’s for him, so the Father will respond in a manner reflecting that desire.
Now, to a degree, nobody likes a show off. It’s not an appealing quality in people. Yet, there is an undercurrent of focus on the self that motivates the acts. If people see what we do, we can get some positive comments, we can look good to others. And in an image conscious world, style is far more important than substance. If you look the part and are seen to be looking the part that can fill a number of those fleshly desires for a sense of self-worth.
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.
Matthew 6:3-4
As He sat to teach them about giving, the King burst that bubble of self-centred delusion. That style over substance issue. That being seen thing that propels much of what passes for communication is shown to be the vacuous pursuit that it is. People see and can pass comment, but that’s eternally worthless. Whereas engaging with the Father of eternity and focusing on him when giving can turn that small and discreet act of giving into a tidal wave of godly good impacting the lives of many in ripples you may never experience.
As the world watches, will we seek to keep up with the culture? Will we be looking for opportunities of self-gratification even as we give? Will we be more concerned with how we look when we give, than what our giving says about the vertical relationship that matters? Will we seek the adulation of others for that inflated sense of self-worth?
Or will we hear, obey and teach others to observe what King Jesus says?
(Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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