10″Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won’t be faithful in large ones. If you cheat even a little, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.
11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?
Jesus pretty much hits on every aspect of life in these two verses, and keeps hitting on the money aspect in the verses that follow.
10″Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won’t be faithful in large ones.”
Every parent knows this to be true. Even toddlers can be given small jobs to do – small jobs that lead to bigger jobs as they prove themselves equal to the task. Parents watch their children and, as they show themselves to be diligent in their responsibilities, they receive larger responsibilities – more opportunities to shine. So also does our heavenly Father watch us as we grow and prove that we can handle responsibility.
If you cheat even a little, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.
One can look at this sentence in many different ways. Because my most long-term experience within the church was in the music ministry, I instinctively look to this group for illustrations. Unfortunately, they’re easy to find where this topic is concerned.
I suppose it is human nature to want the spotlight for ourselves. Often it is man’s greatest desire to step into the limelight and shine there – and his second greatest desire is to get there without paying the price.
The most obvious example of this in my experience is singers’ views of being a Front Line member (one who is out front with a microphone) versus a choir member. How many people have joined their church’s choirs with one goal in mind – to use the choir as a stepping-stone into the Front Line position they covet?
It is true that most Front Line singers, at least in our church, rise out of the ranks of the choir. And they do so just as these verses imply that they must – through faithfulness in all areas. They study to learn not only how to sing in harmony, but to hear their parts without needing to be taught each song. They are diligent to allow the Holy Spirit the freedom to minister through them at all times, whether they feel like it or not. They have also committed themselves to spiritual growth and maturity, to walk worthy of the calling with which they are called long before that calling actually draws them onto the main platform.
Who does not get called to the Front Line?
The one who cannot be bothered to be faithful to the choir – rehearsals and services – had best not expect to be called. The one who cheats even a little, choosing to depend on others around him to know the parts rather than learning them himself, had best never count on attaining any step higher than the one he stands on. Even more, the one who cheats God, refusing to grow up into the mature Christian God has called him to be, will not see God giving him any responsibilities greater than those a spiritual child can handle. Man may give them to him, but God assures us that He will not, and God is the one who counts.
Finally…
[11] And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?
Again, this can be looked at from many angles, but three words ring in my hears.
“tithes and offerings”
In Malachi, God speaks to a troubled people, a people who are troubled, He explains, because they have robbed Him of tithes and offerings.
God puts worldly wealth – money – into our hands. He expects us to return to Him the tithe and offerings beyond the tithe. If we prove untrustworthy in this, choosing to keep the entirety for ourselves (or even stealing from Him only part of what is His – cheating “even a little”) we cannot expect Him to trust us with the “true riches of heaven.”
“If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me.
This is Jesus talking and He says five very strong words not once, but twice.
you cannot be my disciple
If He speaks these words to those who followed Him, how much more strongly must they ring in the ears of those of us who carry Him – in whom He has chosen to place His Spirit?
Do I love Him more than I love my own father and mother?
Do I love Him more than I love my husband and children?
Do I love Him more than I love my sisters?
Do I love Him more than I love my own life?
My instant reaction is a resounding, “Yes!” but is this an honest reaction?
As I wrote this meditation several years ago, the holiday season was fast approaching and bringing with it a conflict between our traditional family gathering and a church service. Many families set aside church at such times, but for us this was not an option. We could join our family before or after service, but not instead of service.
Yes, to this day we are active in our church and would be missed were we not there. We may have chosen not to create difficulty by being absent. We could have decided to attend services merely because we knew we would feel guilt if we stayed away. We could choose to forgo fellowship with our earthly family in favor of fellowship with God for any number of reasons. We choose God’s house over the family’s house for one reason above all others. We choose because He has called us to love Him with our entire being, to love Him better than others, and to allow no one and no thing to come between us and Him. He does, on rare occasions, tell us to do something other than come to His house (the church) for our regular services. These times really are rare, however, and for us to absent ourselves without His instruction (express permission) would be a sign that we do not love Him above all others and all else.
Having said all that, I can conclude that yes, I believe I do love Him more than my father and mother, husband and children, sisters… But what about self?
This is where it gets tough for me. In general, I love Him better than my own life – my own self. For decades, my habit has been to crucify my flesh on Sunday mornings and make it get up early when it would rather sleep in. I often bite my tongue and forgive when my flesh pointedly does not want to, simply because the One I love expects it of me. I study His Word and pray because these things are absolute necessities if I am to truly know Him – and I want to know Him. Still…
There are too many times when self/flesh wins the argument. It may be true that I still love Him better than I love my own life in those moments, but you couldn’t tell it by looking at me. I am reminded of a friend’s experience. She was out shopping with her spiritual mentor when a sales clerk messed up. My friend tore into the clerk and then huffed out the door. She apparently felt convicted almost instantly, because she turned to the older lady and muttered, “Well, I guess I wasn’t much of a witness.”
“Oh…” the more mature friend replied, “you were a witness all right.”
Her friend’s point, of course, was that, like a man in the witness’ box at a trial, we are always being watched by those who witness what we say and do. The question is, do we represent our Lord well…or badly? Is our love for God strong enough that it will overpower our love for our own lives, our own selves? Is it powerful enough to still our tongues (as He would wish) when our flesh would rather lash out and cut deeply?
Yes, I do believe I love Him better than I love my own life. I am well aware, however, that I do not always display this love as He desires, that I must continue to crucify the flesh and improve my ability to walk the walk.
And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me.
There is a piece that makes its way around the internet on occasion; this has reminded me of it.
In the story, a man goes to God complaining that his cross is too heavy, too much of a burden to bear. God takes him to a room and gives him permission to lay down his cross and pick up a different one. Going to first one and then the next, he tries each and every cross in the room until his finds the perfect fit. Not surprisingly, the cross he carries from the room is the very same cross he carried in.
Each of us really does have our own cross to bear, and no other person’s cross will do. No matter how rough my life gets, no matter how busy, no matter how complicated, no matter how challenging or downright hard, I know one thing; God has it all planned out and knows exactly what the path ahead of me looks like. The cross I bear fits me for the path, giving me the learning experiences and tools I need to accomplish exactly what God wants me to accomplish, to reach the goals He has set for me. Were I to set aside my own cross and carry another’s cross down the road that lies before me, I would undoubtedly arrive at each turning without important things that I need, unprepared for what I faced and destined to fail.
It is not only obedience to take up our own crosses and follow Jesus; it is absolute necessity. His command to take up our own crosses and follow Him is not a command that creates a burden; it is, rather, a command that fits us for the journey and saves us from carrying burdens that were never meant to be ours.
Anyone who isn’t helping me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.
I like this translation. We’ve probably all heard, “He who is not for me is against me” – possibly so many times that we only give mental assent to the truth and move on. But…
This is a vital verse for those who think to sit on the fence; it makes it crystal clear that there is no fence. It is even more essential that the import of Luke 11:23 be grasped by those who religiously attend church services every Sunday morning, arrogantly thinking that in merely attending a church service they have completed their Christian responsibility. Jesus says otherwise.
“Anyone who isn’t helping me opposes me…” Can He express it more simply than this? If I think I can merely sit in my padded pew and do nothing to help Jesus expand His kingdom, if I think I can ignore the Great Commission that was given to each of us, I am in gross error. I am also in opposition to Jesus. There is no passively sitting and doing nothing; Jesus says that if we do not actively help Him, we actively oppose Him.
“…and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.” Here He speaks even more strongly and more clearly. Yes, He honestly does expect us to work. He expects us to go into all the world and preach the gospel (Mark 16:15) and, in the local church body, He expects us to be fitly joined together with everyone else, each of us doing our part to supply the needs of the body (Eph 4:16).
What work does He call us to where the church is concerned? Just as it is in the physical body, so it is in a church body – each part supplies what it is designed to offer. In my case, for nearly thirty years this meant serving in the Music Ministry…even after coming on staff full time. The next person may fit in entirely differently, serving in ways that have never occurred to me. The bottom line is that we are both working with Jesus to build up the church and expand the Kingdom of God so that He will not say of us, “They are actually working against me.”
Do not judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves. For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you deal out to others it will be dealt out again to you.
A friend, on reading this meditation, made a comment that motivated me to slip in here and add a preface. I do not wish to imply that we are never to judge others at all; that stand would be unscriptural as the Bible clearly commands us to know those that labor among us, to judge them by their fruit, and I Cor 5:12-13 shows clearly that we are not to ignore it when church members sin.
With that clearly understood…
Many people read Matthew 7:1-2 and instantly set the verses aside, thinking, “I don’t judge people, so this doesn’t apply to me,” but is this true? I think not, for most of us. If, as I drive the freeway, another driver cuts me off and I respond by calling him a fool, I have judged him. I have also, by speaking the judgment aloud, criticized. This Scripture clearly warns me against both.
Why? Why does God warn us not to do these things? I believe it is at least in part because of the laws that say, “…whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal 6:7, NKJV) and “Give and it will be given to you…” (Luke 6:38, NKJV) Yes, “give and it will be given” applies to good gifts, but I believe it also applies to this.
And, too, the King James puts it simply; “Judge not lest thou be judged.” If I am judgmental where others are concerned, I am essentially begging God to be judgmental towards me. Also, I have seen from experience that he who judges often ends up committing the very same error himself. Yes, logic would say that if we see another’s actions as wrong we will not perform the same actions ourselves, but many parents will admit that they too often find themselves doing the very things they most hated for their parents to do. I believe there is a reason for this. As I see it, when I judge another and do not repent of having judged them I open a door that can lead me into doing the very same thing for which I have passed judgment. I believe this not only as a result of reading Scripture, but because I have seen it happen time and again.
I know a man who saw other male friends, Christian men, go through midlife crises and completely lose it. I’m sure he prayed for these men, but he also judged them harshly and criticized them, declaring that there was no excuse for a Christian to go through a midlife crises at all. It wasn’t too very many years before this man was deep in his own midlife crisis and, though he came out of it with his marriage and family intact, it was only by the grace of God that he did. Meanwhile, another friend was judging him harshly, as he had judged the others. In a few short years, this other man was in position to be judged for much the same thing.
I can also give an example of my own. I had a Christian friend who’d had multiple nervous breakdowns. I could not understand how a Christian could have a nervous breakdown and found myself judging her as apparently lacking in some area. Mind you, I never spoke my thoughts – never criticized; I loved her far too much for that anyway and felt badly that I had these judgmental thoughts…not that it occurred to me to repent of them.
Then I had a nervous breakdown.
I have since been able to analyze that time period and could list the things that led me into this horrible experience. It is possible that it would have happened anyway, even if I had not judged this other friend, but I’m sure that through judging her I did open the door that led to me going down the same – or at least a similar – path. God was good to me; He surrounded me with people who loved me, prayed even when they didn’t understand what was wrong, and did everything they could think of to help me down the road to recovery. I would much rather, however, have avoided that terrifying experience entirely.
I am very glad that I have a good God who occasionally reminds me, “Tammy, judge not lest thou be judged, for with the same measure…”
But seek for (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right], and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.
But seek for (aim at and strive after)
This is no small thing. Whatever it is I’m seeking, I’m to aim carefully for my goal. Someone told me once that in the earliest archery targets there was nothing but a mark in the center of a plain field that was called ‘sin.’ If you “hit the mark” you did well, but if you fell outside the mark you were “in sin.” I don’t know if this story is true or not, but it does illustrate the importance of proper aim. The fact is that in anything we do “hitting the mark” is the only fully acceptable result.
And then there’s the word “strive.” According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, it means, “To make efforts; to use exertions; to endeavor with earnestness; to labor hard.” This is a meaty word, one that implies the necessity of WORK on our part.
first of all
Before anything else!
His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right]
So here is what we are to work so hard to attain.
His kingdom
His righteousness
His way of doing and being right
I’m told that one translation says we are to seek first the expansion of His kingdom and that makes sense too, considering Jesus’ command to go into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15)
And if we do this, then…
all these things taken together will be given you besides.
“All these things” would be the things He talked about in verses 25 through 31, the things the Gentiles seek and the things that He commands us not to worry about. He is, after all, our heavenly Father who knows we need them. If we just do things His way, those other ‘things’ are automatically ours.
31Therefore do no worry and be anxious saying, What are we going to have to eat? or, What are we going to have to drink? or, What are we going to have to wear? 32For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek after all these things; and your heavenly Father well knows that you need them all.
First God gives us a command, “Do not worry.” Worry, then, is something we choose to do or not do. This is interesting in itself because worry always comes with a sense of helplessness. Tell someone to stop worrying and their answer will likely be, “I can’t!” We honestly believe this when we say it, but God states quite clearly that we can stop worrying if we choose to. So when we worry we are actually listening to, and believing, two lies instead of one. We are listening to the lie that inspires the worry, and we are listening to the lie that says we are helpless to stop the worrying. Once again, listening to lies leads us to sin, in this case the sin of worry.
“For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek after all these things.” Why do the Gentiles (heathen) seek them? Because they have to! Unlike us, they don’t have a heavenly Father who sees their needs and supplies those needs. Like street children, they must grub around for whatever they can find and then fight to keep it. We, on the other hand, are our Father’s children. What child of a good, loving and prosperous father has to worry about food, drink or clothing? For that child to worry is absurd. For me to worry is absurd! “For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
19 Do not gather and heap up and store for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust and worm consume and destroy, and where thieves break through and steal; 20 But gather and heap up and store for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust nor worm consume and destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal.
I’ve had head knowledge of this verse for years. I know I cannot outgive God – that no matter what I give, be it money, time or something else, God brings increase. At one point, however, in a split second, while I was reading something only marginally related, it dawned on me…
This is literal; God means it!
I know, this sounds so very simple. And it is simple, but really…
From what I’ve learned about the lives we’ll live for eternity, it seems to me that the lives we live here are a type and shadow of the things to come – like the life of the Old Testament was a type and shadow of the life of the New Testament. If I am right… What does this mean?
“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…”
If we store them up, it is so that they will be there when we arrive. If they are treasures, they will be of significant value when we get there. Bottom line: We are storing up something that will matter.
Analogy: There are those who would call a man a fool for not having a retirement plan – because he is not storing up money for that time in the future when he will need it. I know one man like this. He feels that you have no business doing anything else at all with your money until you have a certain amount set aside for the future. Yet he seems to give no thought at all to storing up treasures in Heaven.
But, as I begin to see it, that is the ultimate retirement plan! The life we live here is so finite, so limited, but the life we soon go to live is infinite.
Again, back to the analogy… If one were to be given a choice of two retirement plans – one that would pay out in three years and one that would pay out in thirty – which would the wise man choose? (I assume that, by the world’s standards, the obvious choice would be the thirty-year plan.)
Yet here we are, being offered two plans – one that pays out today and one that will pay out in tomorrow’s eternity when we’ll really need it – and which do most of us choose?
I really am rethinking certain things now…working at moving a few mindsets out of my way. I’m not against earthly retirement plans, of course. On the contrary, I am only just now recognizing their real significance…
…especially as a type and shadow of things to come!
5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
Again, here are those hypocrites, and again I reiterate that I do not want to be like them! What must I do…or not do?
First, God says when—not if. Obviously, the Christian is to pray. It is obvious, too, that the Christian is often called on to pray in public, corporately, in the church, in one accord… So this verse, like so many others, speaks to the motivation of the heart. Why do I pray where I pray and in the manner in which I pray? If I pray “out there” so that men will see me and be impressed, then the only reward I’ll get will be for those men to see me and be impressed. Oh, but does this also mean that such prayers go unanswered and, perhaps, even unheard by God? If the motivation of my heart is to be heard by men, am I only heard by man? Now there’s a sobering thought, because the answer affects not only me, but everyone I would be praying for in this hypothetical situation.
And if this applies to charitable deeds and prayer, does it also apply to praise? In charitable deeds I see no danger, but only the loss of God’s reward. In prayer, it would seem the loss of God’s reward would also be the loss of answers to prayer. This is dangerous in many ways. Now, if the same holds true for praise—for giving praises to God by singing in the choir, for instance—what then? The individual has lost his reward from God, gaining only the attention of men, but is there more? Does he, perhaps, in his hypocrisy, hinder God’s ability to move? Is he more of a stumbling block to freedom in the Spirit because he is a hypocrite (or at least an ignorant and misguided man) in a place of spiritual leadership? Does he, in truth, affect what the congregation is capable of doing, the heights the people are able to reach in Him?
These are sobering thoughts.
6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Back to prayer.
I read this verse and think of a time or two when I was praying with groups and certain people were obviously praying specifically so that others would hear and be impressed. Mind you, I’m not saying their prayers were any louder than the next person’s. What I am saying is that, as one who was praying with the right motivation, I easily sensed their wrong motivation.
So that’s another thing about praying openly so that men can hear. Men do hear, all right, and those who are sensitive to the Spirit know exactly what is going on around them. No one likes being caught faking anything, so this one thought should be even more motivation, more reason to keep one’s heart pure and motivation right.
7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
This passage reminds me clearly of all the times one of my young sons would come to me and begin a long dissertation, taking forever to give me endless details when I already knew what he was preparing to ask. It is a frustrating thing for a parent, and there were many times when I’d want to say, “Get on with it,” or was tempted to settle for a simple, “No,” just to end quickly a conversation that was already grating on my nerves. There are few things more frustrating than listening to a seemingly endless spew of words.
Got it.
My daddy already knows what I need and want. He knows full well what I’m going to ask of Him. He does want me to ask, but He wants me to get down to the business of asking so He can get down to the business of answering. Too, like any parent, He wants our time together to be filled with meaningful interaction, warm hugs, expressions of love and thanksgiving…not gimme, gimme, gimme…
So how do I pray?
9 In this manner, therefore, pray:
He really is always right there with the answers to our questions.
Our Father in heaven,
I believe I could write books on these two words—Our Father. They mean so much!
First, they tell me about Him and the relationship He wants to have with me. He wants to be everything my earthly father is and more. He wants to be the one I run to when I’m joyful and when I’m sad, when I’m confused and when I’ve just made an exciting new discovery. He wants me to fling my arms around His neck when my heart is overflowing with love and cry on His shoulders when my heart breaks and I can’t seem to stop the tears. Above all else, He wants me to trust Him and His love for me; He wants me to believe with all my heart that no matter what things look like around me His choice is to stay at my side, holding my hand as we walk through things together. He wants to see my face as I stand before Him, not my back as I walk away.
Second, these words tell me about me. If He is my father, then there are things in Him that are also in me. Sometimes we hear people say things like, “He is the very image of his father.” We, too, having been made in His image and likeness, having been made His children, can (and should) be the very image of our Father.
The first characteristic most people think of where God is concerned is love. He is love, therefore I have it within me to be love as well. I Corinthians 13 talks about this very thing and in John 13:35 Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” The first characteristic of God that is mentioned in the Bible is creativity. (Gen 1:1 “In the beginning God created…”) I can never say that I am not creative, because as one who is made in the image of my Father, I definitely am. In fact, I create truths every day in the very same way God does, with the words I speak, which is one reason the Scriptures so often command us to control our tongues.
Third, these words tell me some about others who call Him “Father.” I have one full sister and one half sister and all three of us share the same father. Stick us together and you’d never know by looking at us that we’re sisters. Spend time with us and you will discover that while we are three wildly differing individuals we are also very much alike in an astounding number of ways. The same is true in the family of God. We are all children of the same Father and are often both more alike and more different than we may want to admit. I may be instinctively drawn to some and not others, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re all my brothers and sisters and my only choice is to love all them.
Hallowed be Your name.
This is a concept modern day man, as a whole, has absolutely no grasp of. From completely ridiculous profanity (Really, like any man can tell God to damn someone.) to the frustrated teenager’s use of, “God!” accompanied by rolled eyes and slammed doors, our culture shows clearly that it is clueless about the holiness of God and His name. In this, I am humbled by the Jewish manner of refusing to even spell His name. God becomes G-d as a reminder that His name is hallowed—holy.
He and His name are HOLY. Why do I feel like it is pointless to even continue with this prayer until one has a true understanding—revelation—of these four words?
10Your kingdom come. Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
Oh, but this is one verse I wish I really could get a revelation of. I know what it’s saying here; I really do. I just have trouble, sometimes, transferring that head knowledge into the right place.
Jesus would not have told his disciples to pray this thing if it could not come to pass. He simply wouldn’t. So it IS possible for God’s will to be done right here on Earth like it is done in Heaven. Oh, His will does get done here on Earth, but never to the extent that it ought to. In Heaven, though, it is His will that gets done and done unconditionally. I can only imagine what it will be like when His will IS done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Now, if I could only get past the imagining and into true envisioning.
11Give us this day our daily bread.
Here is another brief request that is full of meaning.
For Israel in the wilderness, their daily bread was manna, food that came straight from Heaven every single day. I have lived like this, seeing God bring to us, each day, food enough to make it through that day. Like the Israelites, I was also tempted to store up the leftovers, and like the Israelites, I sometimes forgot to be grateful. It is so easy to forget, when buried within our own selfish flesh, that this daily bread is a gift from God.
The Word of God is often likened to bread and this is something else I truly do need every single day. Just as my body needs fresh bread daily, so does my spirit need “fresh bread” daily. I ask that God give me that bread, yes, but then I must receive it. I must take time out to read it and really chew on it—to meditate on His Word.
And Jesus, in that last night with His disciples, referred his body as bread, broken for them—for me. I do not take that bread in a literal sense, as communion, every day, but I should seek that fresh revelation of Him and what He did for me every day. It is this daily bread, this continually renewed revelation of who He is, what He did, and who I am in Him that keeps me aware of my purpose and working on doing my part to see to it that His plans for me are fulfilled.
12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
This one is interesting. In praying these words I am asking God to forgive me, yes, but I am also acknowledging that there is a limitation. If someone who has wronged me asks my forgiveness and I refuse to forgive him, then I know that God will also refuse to forgive me. However, this is also a promise, as I do unto my debtors, so does God unto me. Forgive!
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
Amen! Temptation, in this sense, essentially means “to test.” God, please, save me from all of the tests you can.
But deliver us from the evil one.
If I am being delivered from something, I am being rescued, obviously. I looked the word “deliver” up in the Greek on a hunch and found that it also means “to rush or to draw.” This takes me right back to God being my Father. A natural father, when he spies something unsafe, will rush or draw his child away from danger. At times, a child will fight, refusing to be drawn away, and at such times he may be endangered.
So this part of the prayer also involves me and my actions. I am asking my Father to alert me to evil, to draw me away, and I am committing to go where He leads.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
They’re His. They are ALL His and I had best not forget it, best never fail to acknowledge His supremacy and give Him His due.
1Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
our charitable deeds
When we do charitable deeds or, as the King James puts it, give alms, we are showing compassion for and helping the poor on a practical level. This is clearly something God expects us to do; otherwise, He would not have expressed it as He did. Too, it’s not just “do charitable deeds,” but is “do your charitable deeds.” So each of us is to be doing charitable deeds, giving to the poor in some manner, and each of us is to do our own charitable deeds—the ones the Holy Spirit prompts us to do.
I’ve been on both ends of this. I’ve been the poor who gratefully received the charitable deeds and I’ve been the one cheerfully doing the charitable deed. Being on the receiving end requires great humility and the squashing of pride, but being on the giving end can require the same. My usual feeling, when I’m able to be a blessing to someone in need, is joy, but does pride never try to creep in the edges, whispering things I don’t need to hear? I wish.
to be seen by them
To me this seems to be the most significant part of the command. Why am I doing the charitable deed in the first place? Am I doing it so that man can see and be impressed? If so, and if I do my charitable deed in front of man, seeking his rewards, then I have the reward I sought—and only the reward I sought. My Father in Heaven cannot reward me, because it is not His reward I am seeking. That’s a heavy-duty revelation, and one that takes me right back to a study I’ve done on motivation. It is a fact; in anything I do, the most important factor is the reason I do it. Why do I do what I do?
You know, it doesn’t take much thought to realize that it’s foolish to “do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them.” After all, who in their right mind would take man’s reward over God’s reward? But we do. All too often, I do. Where I should be walking in humility of spirit, doing what God desires only because He desires it, I sometimes catch myself showing off…doing a thing more because it will make me look good in the eyes of man, because man’s reward gives instant and obvious gratification. The problem, of course, is that this is also fleeting gratification. When the man is gone, and the honor is gone, there is nothing. But with God…
2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed…
When, not if. The Teacher rephrases and restates so that I will not miss the point. WHEN I do a charitable deed…
…do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
And again He makes His point. If I choose to draw attention to myself and my charitable deed, I am no better than the hypocrites Jesus had to deal with continually. How many times have I read about them in the Scriptures and been completely disgusted? May I never be so disgusting!
3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
There’s that humility stuff again.
When I do a charitable deed, I try to not even let the recipient know what I’m doing. I have a trusted “right hand” who usually passes such blessings along for me; I have been other deed doers’ silent right hands as well. I know this isn’t the literal meaning of this verse, but it surely fits the spirit.
4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.
Again, what wise person would pass on this promise? Jesus says here that if we do our charitable deeds as He tells us to then our Father will reward us and will reward us openly. Yes, true humility requires no reward, but I’m not talking about true humility right now; I’m talking about true human nature.
The instant-gratification world we live in has trained most of us too well; we take the instant gratification even when it’s bad for us or leaves us wanting more. On the human level, it may seem silly to wait for God’s reward when man’s is right there, yet man’s reward cannot compare to God’s promises.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
I know I am not alone in counting this among my favorite scriptures. It seems I see it more and more in email signature lines, on plaques, and in a variety of other places. I love it in the King James. “I know the thoughts that I think toward you…”
Whether the word is translated as “thoughts” or “plans”, I inevitably go back to the beginning. I mean, I go back to the literal beginning- “In the beginning God created…”
Consider it. He said, “Light be,” and light was, yet even before He said the words, He thought the thought; He made the plan. God’s thoughts and plans have immeasurable power. God’s thoughts and plans result in an outpouring of His creativity. God’s thoughts will have results; His plans will come to pass. Bank on it.
And He thinks these thoughts towards me. He has these plans for me. Me! Can there possibly be anything more reassuring than to know that the One who created the universe is thinking about and making plans for me, and that His plans are to give me a future and a hope?
