Don't Call Attention to Your Good Deeds

 We learn in Matthew 6:1 - 4 this week: 

“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you."

image courtesy of Copper and Wild via Unsplash

Giving and lending a helping hand is a good thing to do as long as it's for the right reason. So, let's ask ourselves what our motives are for our good deeds. If we're giving to impress others, to bring attention to ourselves, then giving is a selfish act. We should give with heart-felt compassion, because people are hurting and need help. When we give, we should do so as God's representatives and for His Glory, not to get something in return for ourselves (be that recognition, praise, or credit for the deed, or honors of any sort). Let's do our work for God without expecting a standing ovation from people, but instead, to receive a quiet peace with God, knowing that we did something to express Christ's love to others. Doing a kind deed for someone who is down and out may be the turning point they need to accept Christ as their Savior.

Watch this sweet video that I recently came across. Unlike this cop, most of us won't ever know how we have touched someone's life with an act of kindness, but this is a great example of seeing a kind act in action with no expectations of anything in return. This man was asked to recount his kindness, and it's easy to see that he was a bit uneasy about telling the story. He didn't want to bring attention to himself. He didn't want to "toot his own horn", so to speak. But hearing him tell the story in his humble way did add much more meaning to the story when you reach the end. And I'm in no way saying that you will get a reward like this if you do a kind act (again, because we don't do kind acts to get something in return or to get attention), but your blessings from Heaven for your humble, Christlike actions will likely feel as if you received 5,000 blessings in your heart, if done with the right motives.

God bless you on this peaceful journey,

Patricia