Proper giving

"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

There have been many great philanthropists through history. These are people who are known for their giving and their generosity. Giving is something laudable. I remember church fund raisers where people could ‘buy a brick’ and then a plaque was erected with a list of all the donors. Schools and other organisations have walls listing their donors and contributors so that everyone can know who did the giving.

Real, godly, Bible giving is nothing like that. The guys Jesus was talking about made a big show of their giving. They wanted everyone to know about. Jesus simply said that we are not to give that way. When we give or do a charitable deed we do it so secretly that if possible our left hand would not even know what our right hand was doing.

Our problem with that is that if we do it that way who will ever know? Who is going to get the credit?

What does it matter? Jesus says those who get recognised for giving have all the reward they are going to get.

When we give, whether it as church or in a charitable manner no one needs to know about. We give for others, not for us.