I enjoyed a couple of days off, spending some time with my family and working on a few projects. I managed to keep up with my Bible reading, prayer time, and exercise through the weekend, which is something I traditionally have not even tried to do. A small victory for the personal 90-day challenge I have been working through.
I write these posts for me. Writing helps me to organize my thoughts and forces me to slow down and think things through. I often start a post headed in one direction and at some point, it heads down a completely new path, causing me to backtrack and rewrite a few sections. Sometimes I end up rewriting the entire post. It is fun to slow down and think through a post and see what God is going to do and what I am going to learn through a specific Bible passage, a life event, or just a simple observation or thought.
As I get back to the Seek First series after a very busy 3-day weekend, it is good to slow down a little bit and listen. We pick back up in Matthew 6. Jesus continues to emphasize that we can follow the letter of the law and get caught up in all the details, and still miss the intent of the law. It is not the practice of the law that matters, but the practice of the heart. We can give to help others and work hard to give more, but the question should not be how much we are giving, but how is our heart. Whose kingdom are we trying to build? If we give because it is our obligation, or because it is the “right thing to do”, then perhaps we should examine our motives for giving. Do we give because we feel obligated to? Do we give to make us look better and so that others will notice? Do we give because we need another tax deduction? Do we give because it makes us feel better about ourselves? Do we give our money because it is easier than giving our time? What is our motivation? Whose kingdom am I trying to build?
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Matthew 6: 1-4
When our heart is right and we give because we want to give, and not out of obligation or any other motive, then we will be rewarded. Remember whose kingdom we are building. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and “your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
