God's Secret Giver

Doing Good to Please God

Read: Matthew 6 : 1 - 6

"But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed  may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly."

"But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door to pray, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

God's Salt and Light

We are to do good to other people because as God's salt and light to the darkened world, we must illuminate God's grace and mercy for people to see, but in the same manner, when we do good things to other people we must not do them with a desire to be seen and admired, we are to do these things in private. Because God who sees what we do in private, sees and knows what we do and will reward us accordingly.

There are three things we must consider why we must do good things to other people with the desire to please God and not to blow our trumpets or make an announcement whenever we do it.

We lose our reward

When we do our good deeds with the desire to be admired, to be praised and to be honored we lose the reward in heaven which God has in store for us. God will judge us on our works here in earth, how we have acted on his behalf, and how we have been a good steward on the resources He have generously entrusted to us; and will reward us accordingly. But when we do these things with the desire to be praised on how good we have done, then we entirely lose what is rightfully would have been for us.

We have limited reward

Doing good deeds will naturally draw people's attention and will be proclaimed for others to see, so they will be inspired and encouraged that God is working in our lives and that they will do the same. But when we ourselves do the same proclamation, promotion and announcement so that people will admire us, will honor us and will praise our good deeds then that’s the only reward we will be having. It may lift up our financial status, social level and even bring us great riches, but in God's standard, that will be limited compared to what He have been preparing for us.

We will be rewarded openly

When God pours out His blessings, it will be so great that we will not be able to contain it. It was likened to a flood, where we will drowned in its glory, in its greatness and overwhelmed us with abundance of grace. That is what awaits us when we do good deeds in private and in desire to please God.   

God's Secret Giver

Personal Application

There are blessings in doing good deeds to other people. But we must be careful with our attitude and intentions about it, if we, don't want to lose our rewards, limit our reward and be openly rewarded. Here are some practical ways where we can enjoy God's true blessings:

1. Give in Private - don't announce your good deeds and let it be your main objectives, but focus on doing good deeds because that’s what we are suppose to do as God's redeemed and adopted children.
2. Pray in Private - Don't grandstand in your prayers. If possible, pray as often as you can to God in private. Your desire should be to seek God, have a deeper relationship with Him and to listen to His words.
3. Desire to please God - This should be our main purpose in doing good deeds and praying to God. It is because we want to glorify Him and have the attention to Him and not to us, so people will be drawn to God and not to us.