"Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly." Matthew 6:1-4 (KJV)
Reading verses like these certainly make you look at things differently. I can tell you for a fact that I'm no longer "impressed" by celebrities who openly make donations or people in general who try to draw attention to their good works. I've been doing music classes at the college as most of you know, and sometimes they'll talk about what good an artist is currently doing and most are impressed by it... I'm not, because I look at it as people who want a reward. They want praise and publicity to boost their careers and status with people. So, I'm never impressed by people who openly give. I would rather get my reward in Heaven.
Sometimes when you give, it's in a public place and you can't help it. When a homeless man approaches you on the street you can't help whether someone sees you or not... But there are things that people do to draw attention to themselves. Some people make sure that they're seen giving. But I'll tell you this much, there's still a lot of people who have their heart in the right place. I'll never forget this one guy who worked at the grocery store. We were doing badly one particular month, we couldn't afford our groceries. This man the manager I guess, came out and he said you're "a regular customer so just pay me at the beginning of the month, I'll put it on the books." We came back at the beginning of the month, and the man no longer worked there. We asked if there was anything showing what we owed and they said "no." We didn't have to pay. What a blessing, because we were doing so badly. We would've been without food for a couple of weeks or so. That man has a reward in Heaven, he didn't go around advertising his good deed. I think he paid for our groceries himself. There's still a lot of people out there like that, just when you're about to lose all faith in humanity there's someone who helps restore it. But most of all, there's someone to show you that God is still moving in your life and someone to help you keep your faith in the Lord. You can be that person for someone else too. Think about what it would mean to you if someone did the same for you. Sometimes it's the small things that mean so much. And when you do something that means a lot for someone else, then they'll never forget you and that's a great reward in itself. So, today I want to challenge you all to do something good for someone. And I don't mean just family or friends, but strangers too. Touch someone's heart in the name of Jesus.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins as we forgive those who've sinned against us. Help us to do good and help others, but also not to draw attention to ourselves or seek reward from man for it. Let our reward be in Heaven. In Jesus name. A-men!
