Today’s Scripture Reading
Matthew 6:1–4
“Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they will have received their reward in full. 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. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Stewardship. Humility. Although this is a short passage in the famous Sermon on the Mount, it is packed with lots of important concepts. It helps us to examine our deepest motivations in what we do in this mission. So let’s just break it down verse by verse. Who are we trying to impress? Is it God or is it man? In no uncertain terms, Jesus says that if you want to impress people around you, God will say, “Don’t expect any reward from me.” And as we use social media, let us use it to fundraise and promote the mission with a sense of humility, not with a motivation to “look at me.”
When we look at the teaching of Jesus, He tells us to give in secret. In essence, it’s an audience of one. When we keep our hearts motivated to serve and glorify God—doing this for His mission and His people—it brings a deep joy and peace that the world does not know. Our world is so focused on numbers, results, etc., but God is more interested in our hearts and our character.
This reminds me of a story about my wife after we returned from one of our early trips to Guatemala. A friend of hers heard what she had done and said, “You must be fulfilled.” It was hard for her friend to understand that we could do this kind of work and not expect anything in return. But when we look at the cross of Christ, that’s exactly what He did for us. It’s called grace, and it’s the motivating factor that gets rid of our self-centered, performance-based salvation.
I think another topic that comes to mind after reading this passage is that in reality, everything we have is provided by God, and we are the stewards and the managers—not the owners (see 1 Chronicles 29:14–18). In short, Jesus knows our hearts better than we do. He knows that when we perform to impress others or try to earn God’s love, it’s not sustainable and leads to anxiety and burnout. This audience of one—being the God that loves me unconditionally—trades my quid pro quo heart in for a heart of gratitude.
