Matthew 6:1-4 | Do Good In Secret

Matthew 6:1-4, “‘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.

2 ‘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. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

It is very tempting to do good works out of the intention to make others perceive you in a better light. But, according to Christ’s words, this is contrary to what God wants. Jesus stresses this reality by saying we will receive “no reward” from our Father in heaven if we do good works out of this intention.

1) When you give, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing

Jesus explains what we need to do if we want the reward given by God: give without telling anyone, so as not to be honored by others. Christ then doubles down on what He has said, saying, “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” (Matthew 6:3). I love this verse because, 1) it provides such a great illustration of the humility God wants from us, and 2) it requires that we do not even recognize the good that we, ourselves, are doing. What does this mean? God wants all the charity that we do to be done in secret for Him. When we do good acts to others out of a motivation to feed our own pride by being recognized (honored by others), or even our own pride of self-assured righteousness, we fail to receive God’s reward in the good act.

God’s picture of how we should give in Matthew 6:3 is one of total submission. When we do good and seek no reward from man or recognition from