SCRIPTURE: Matthew (NIV) 6:1 “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.
2 “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 have received their reward in full.
3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
OBSERVATION: Our Heavenly Father has a special place in His heart for the needy. Proverbs 19:17 tells us that giving to the needy is loaning to the Lord who will reward them. Here Jesus said that the way we give can cancel our reward!!! In giving so that people will see our generosity, we are trading our Heavenly Father’s reward for the reward of honor from men!!! That is a bad trade!!!
APPLICATION: We surely do not want to miss the Lord’s reward. We know that He is loving and abundantly generous. We clearly do not want to disqualify ourselves from His reward.
Whenever I see pictures on Facebook of generosity being given to the poor, my heart hurts. Many of those pictures come from poverty areas of the world. They need the abundant blessing of the Lord. They need the reward of our Heavenly Father.
PRAYER: Holy Spirit, help us to apply the scriptures to our activities. We need the blessings of our Heavenly Father. We do not want to miss even one. Amen
Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!
On Facebook: Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
SOAPs by Pastor Leon 