Anchor My Faith

Do Not Seek Praise

Scripture: Matthew 6:1-4

With this lesson we begin a new section on what real giving is. Jesus continues his teaching by saying: ^{Mt 6:1} “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. ² Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 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. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Reading our passage, we notice that Jesus is again talking about external verses internal. We are cautioned to not practice our righteousness so as to be noticed by others, because if we do then we are demonstrating that receiving their praise for our doing good is more important than the doing of good, and that the reward we seek from people is more important than the reward we would have received from God.

Each believer will face a time of judgment: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10 ESV). ^{1 Cor. 3:13} “each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴ If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (ESV).

That which we do to gain attention and praise from others will be burned up that day before the judgment seat of Christ, but that which is done in secret or with no intent of being praised will endure the fire and produce a reward from God. Any recognition we seek from people for doing good automatically insures no further reward from God. Are you willing to accept a temporary reward in this life or to wait to receive an eternal reward from God?

Let us not seek the praise of people, even though we may be tempted to do so as the hypocrites were, but let us quietly go about doing good, even to the point of our left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, so that our giving is done in secret. The ability to do this is a struggle, in some ways, for all of us because it involves pride, which is rooted in our sin nature, but as we work out our salvation through the process of sanctification, God gradually replaces that pride with humility and meekness. Then we are able to do good works, to practice our righteousness, in secret, allowing God to reward us. Sometimes that reward is given during this life.

Prayer

Father, it is human nature to draw attention to ourselves. That is the nature of sin, to focus on ourselves and not on you. We can be religious, as the Pharisees were, and practice righteousness for receiving praise, or we can live out our relationship with Jesus Christ and practice our righteousness out of love, even if it cost us to do so.