Scripture… As We Live It #150
This is the 150th passage in “Scripture… As We Live It.”
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them Do not let other people know about your good deeds, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 6:1 re-mix)
(Please read the first post for an explanation of this series.)
mmm…
it is right now a topic that I’ve been meditating about for the last week or two. Weither we want it or not, some time (most of the time?) if the more wealthy people in the church help the less wealthy, it will become known by someone else. And some “good deeds” are not only to be “accidently known” by other, but actually expected from some brothers/sisters (eg: every christians is taught to support “their” widows, … so everyone else in the church know it)
in the first chapter of Acts we see people coming to offer the money they got from the selling of their properties… and it seems that it was publically known, … or at least not hidden.
I wonder if sometime we restrain ourselves (I think I do…) from giving generously because we’re afraid that “our left hand will know what our right hand does…”
thanks,
again, you make me think
I might need a little further explanation on this one. Are you saying that we should let others know about our good deeds?
I don’t usually comment on these, but I’ll explain where I’m coming from with this one. If the re-mix above is correct (and I think it’s how this verse is usually interpreted) then it is a direct contradiction to Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5:16 and several examples that Paul gives of us own service (among many other passages of Scripture).
-Alan
Isn’t it about the ‘why’? Good deeds will be seen; am I looking for human approval? If so, that’s my reward.
Holy Scripture:
“As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death,
So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?” (Proverbs 26:18-19)
…As We Live It:
As a comedian who exercises wit and spreads laughter,
So is the man that deceives his neighbour on April Fool’s Day, and says, It’s all in good fun!
I’ve heard about an interpretation of the “right hand not knowing what the left hand does” which says basically that once you’ve given something to someone, don’t try to control what he does with it…
another point: with modern-day charities, it has become the “standard” to give without having any real-life contact with poverty or needy people. And we, on the same path of “no real contact with real life” have overspiritualized the process of giving anonymously, making it somewhat superior, more spiritual. I think there is a place for anonymous giving, but there are expected behavior in the Kingdom life (support of the poor in the church, support of one’s widows…) that can just not be anonymous. So this verse cannot mean that good deeds ought to always be anonymous.