Wednesday, March 6, 2013

HIDE YOUR GOOD WORKS?

Matthew 5:14-16
Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 

   IN MATTHEW 5: 14-16, JESUS TOLD his followers to let others see their good works and thus give glory to God. But in the very next chapter, Matthew 6, Jesus told his disciples not to practice acts of piety before others in order to be seen by them. Which is it? Do we do our good works before others, or do we hide our good works?
 
   The difference between these two commands is in the motivation. In the first case, beautiful works are done for others, both as an act of obedience to God and as a way of leading others to him. (Jesus noted that by our good works, others were meant to “give glory to their Father in heaven.”) But in the second case, Jesus warned against doing acts of piety with the aim of being praised by others. The difference is who is intended to get the glory: God or you?
       
   Jesus followed up the second command by naming three deeds of piety that his followers might be tempted to practice in a way that draws attention and praise to themselves. He noted that the “hypocrites” practice deeds of piety in this way. Hypocrite, in Greek, signifies an actor on a stage— a pretender— and Jesus almost always used this term to refer to the religious leaders. The three acts that Jesus named: giving to the poor, praying, and fasting.
 
   Why did Jesus feel the need to warn his disciples about drawing attention to themselves? Because he knew that they, and we, would struggle with this temptation. There is something inside us that wants affirmation, and when we’ve done something good, we want to be noticed. But somehow the very act of doing these things in order to be praised by others undermines the original purpose of the acts, which was to bless others and glorify God.
 
   Do you struggle with the desire to be noticed for your piety? Do you find yourself wanting to tell others when you are fasting, or what you are fasting from? Do you ever secretly want others to know that you made a sizable donation to a particular cause? When you pray, do you find yourself wanting others to know it? I’m embarrassed and ashamed to say that at times in my Christian life, I have struggled with each of these desires.
 
   Jesus told his followers to give in secret, to pray in a place where no one listened, to fast without telling anyone, and “your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6: 4 NRSV). Cultivating the habit of secrecy, anonymity, and deflecting the glory to God is a part of spiritual maturity. In the end we may not be able to hide our beautiful deeds, but we can work to do them for God’s Glory and not our own.

Lord, please forgive me for the times when I was one of the hypocrites, doing spiritual things with motives that were not spiritual. Help me to resist the urge to be noticed and affirmed by anyone but you. May my life be lived for your glory and not my own. Amen. 

Adam Hamilton, The Way-40 Days of Reflection: Waling in the Footsteps of Jesus  











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