Oct 26 - Matthew 6:2

Jesus said,

“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.”

Matthew 6:2

Matthew 6 begins with a theme:

Trumpets are bad!

Wait. Maybe Jesus isn't condemning a whole section of the band. More likely he's saying that "tooting our own horn" is prideful. (And he goes on to say convictingly that pridefulness has no lasting place in the kingdom of heaven.)

Jesus is telling us that we can do the right things ... for the very wrong reasons.

Giving is the right thing. It blesses God's kingdom. God calls us to give to the temple treasury. It pays the priests who preach the word. It takes care of the temple grounds (our place for grace). It blesses our community, doing good things like teaching our children and caring for orphans and widows. According to God, this is "the right thing."

But it is possible to do it for the wrong reasons.

At a church that a friend of mine served, the richest man in the congregation wouldn't give a penny all year. But on the last day of the year, he would call the pastor, "Preacher, how much are we behind at the end of the year? Let me catch the church up."

It wasn't generous. It was prideful and manipulative. He wanted to make sure the congregation knew that the church was in the black precisely because of him. And he wanted the pastor to be under his thumb – essentially, "if you don't do what I want this year, I won't bail you out at the end."

Mr. Hornblower might have given more than any other single member in the church. But he had more to give. Jesus says here, and in many in various ways other passages, that heaven prefers the generosity of poor widows (and the like) who give two little coins from the heart.

The heart is the measure of the true gift. Not the amount.

In Christ's Love,

a guy who's learned to

give and give, more and more,

until quiet generosity

finally feels really good

(and then life begins

to get really good!)