Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. (Matthew 6:1)
Our acts of love and charity should be done with the pure motive of blessing others. If our hidden agenda is to gain self-recognition, then God will not reward us.
Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, (Matthew 6:2-3)
“do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing “ is simply a metaphor used by Jesus to stress secrecy (Matthew 6:4). It is not possible to have one member of the body function independently of another (1 Corinthians 12:26). The bottom line is our motives must be pure.
“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. (Matthew 6:5-6)
Lord Jesus was not against public prayer but He was simply warning us that our motivation behind prayer should not be to gain recognition from the people around us.
Shut the door when you pray
Do you struggle frequently with feeling disconnected from God?
Do you strain to feel God’s presence when you pray?
Does God seem distant to you?
Do you want to grow in your prayer times?
This is the secret- the shut door
This does not necessarily mean that we must actually be in a private room in a house. When Jesus himself prayed, it was often in a garden or on a mountain--somewhere apart from the multitude. He teaches us to do the same. We need to be alone. The presence of others disturbs our thoughts.
"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)
There is a story told of a man who loved the temporal things of this world. He sought all he could own and possess. It happened that when the man died and an autopsy (post-mortem) was done on his body. The autopsy revealed that there was no heart in his body. His friends, knowing his character, ran to his storehouse of treasures, and there among all his possessions, they found his bleeding heart.
This is just a fictitious story but it tells us something. Your heart will always follow your treasure. Earthly treasure – you can’t take it with you.
…His (Jacob’s) life is bound up in the lad’s life. "it will happen when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die. (Genesis 44:30-31)
How to recognize what is your treasure? What is your life bound up in or bound up with? If your heart is bound up, attached to some issue – that is your treasure.
Can I tell you something? God is fully aware of your treasure. The sad part is that even the devil knows what is your treasure.
Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. "And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' [Notice: the rich man didn’t even say nor do these things, he only thought about it] "So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. [Most of the time thoughts of how we can make more money, acquire more lands, acquire bigger houses and faster vehicles consume us] 'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."' "But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:16-21)
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is [g]good, your whole body will be full of light. (Matthew 6:22)
Lord Jesus was talking about spiritual vision.
Chapters