This is one of the famous words in Bible. Especially "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing". But I want to put stress on the truth which is that people who let everyone know what they did have recieved their reward in full from the world. Doing acts of righteousness to be seen by others doesn't mean bad and still has rewards(worldly). It's just not from your Father in heaven like the first verse says.
It is really hard to win the temptation of being seen and praised by others when I do somthing good. It is. Reward in Heaven also takes too long! But christian life has no meaning if we ignore the life in Kingdom of heaven. Let's be righteous people in secret!
(So sorry for late posting)
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2 comments:
thanks for an insightful reflection, sungeun. chapter 6 in the sermon on the mount examines the motives behind our "acts of righteousness". again the sermon is examining true and inward righteousnes vs outward righteousness.
the reward you get when you do your acts of righteousness before men is their recognition and their praise. Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, you will have received your reward in full".
but sungeun is right to point out that we should long for the reward that comes from God the Father, when we do the right outward acts because we are in a right relationship with Him. then we won't mind doing our good deeds "in secret". we will not be concerned when we do our good deeds and no one is around to commend them.
how empty the praise of others is in the end and how we ought to desire the right things! may we all come to the place where we "long for the praise of God more than the praise of men".
Sungeun, you're right. We will receive our reward even if we do good works to be seen by others and it's not a bad thing. You made me realize that this message is not about "don't" but about "doing" the right thing in the best way. I only saw the negative message of being warned against hypocrisy but I realized you don't have to stop doing good works because you might enjoy the praise you get from others. We should guard against hypocrisy but we should also remember that there is a better way to do acts of righteousness. Why should we do it for only a temporary reward? We should do it to please our heavenly Father and trust that His reward is better than any from this world.
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