Jesus said: ‘Take care! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired, for then you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give a gift to a beggar, don’t shout about it as the hypocrites do – blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you…they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you do a kindness to someone, do it secretly – don’t tell your left hand what your right hand is doing. And your Father who knows all secrets will reward you’ (vv. 1-4 TLB). Give generously and gladly but keep it to yourself. It’s nobody’s business but yours and God’s. And if you make it somebody’s business, you immediately have your reward and forfeit the opportunity to receive something even greater when you arrive in heaven. And you will receive it because, ‘God…will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people’ (Hebrews 6:10 NIV). Others may not notice your generosity, or quickly forget it, but God won’t, and He will reward you for it. The next time you’re sitting in church, realise there are faithful people all around you who have given and given again without ever letting it be known. You may even be one of them! Every Sunday you rub shoulders with some of the greatest givers of our day, and they do it ‘as to the Lord’ (Colossians 3:23 KJV) by keeping it to themselves and waiting for His promised reward. Others may never know – but God will never forget.
