Be careful! When you do good things, don’t do them in front of people to be seen by them. If you do that, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Matthew 6:1
Ever known anyone who was so self-important that they wanted EVERYONE to notice all the good things they have done? Ever known anyone who make a great show of doing good, not so much because they are doing good, but because it will draw attention to them?
Yeah, I know a few like that too. They are everywhere and, sadly, churches are full of them. They cannot do a good deed without letting as many people know as possible. And sadly, the "good" act is almost always a one-and-done situation where the act is done, applause, applause, camera flashes, lots of smiles, and then they are off to the next attention getting act.
In today's passage, Jesus is reminding us that we ARE to do good things for others, but we are NOT to do them for the purpose of self-promotion! If the only reason we do good is so we can receive accolades, then we are doing it for the wrong reason and the accolades are our reward and we are nothing more than exhibitionists.
You see, IF we truly love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, then we will love others as we love ourselves, and THAT will make doing good things naturally be part of our normal personality. But if we have to do good for the purpose of making sure others know we have done good, we need to make sure that we aren't trying to take God's place.
In the Old Testament, Jeremiah writes: More than anything else, a person’s mind is evil and cannot be healed. Who can understand it? Which means it is our INTENTION that will reveal our true purpose.
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