"Take 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. Therefore, when you 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. 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.” Matthew 6:1-4
Being charitable is a mark of true spiritual discipleship. Being charitable for the sake of feeling good about one’s charity is a blemish not only on one’s generosity, but also on one’s spirituality.
Some well-intentioned, but misguided folks even say that they like to help others because of the good feeling they experience as a result. Having good feelings about generosity is not bad. It is only bad when those feelings are the motive for one’s generosity. Jesus points an accusing finger at the religionists of His day, but they were, and are, by no means the only guilty parties in this regard!
Akin to this error is giving so that others will see and praise the giver for being generous. It is not bad to be seen doing good if the goal is that people will praise God (Matthew 5:16). But when the goal is to receive recognition, though the gift may well help the one to whom it was given, there will be no spiritual reward afforded to the giver.
Do not miss, however, Jesus’ promise that those who: (a) give and (b) give with no thought of applause from people, will receive a reward from God.
Not allowing one’s right hand to know what the left hand is doing is a figure of speech warning us to give charitably, secretly, without thought of the cheers of those around us.
As a footnote, giving money is not the only means of giving. Those who give of their time to help others, and even give their ears to kindly listen to other people troubles are likewise “doing charitable deeds.”
Let us all pause for a moment of self-examination: Are we people who give generously? Do we give without thought of personal promotion, but merely for the sake of assisting others and for the glory of God? Are we motivated to give because the Lord has given so generously to us? Let us genuinely seek to grow in this all-important aspect of discipleship.