SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/16/2020 10:20 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Practice and Reward of True
Giving”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
6:3-4
Message of the verses: “3 "But when you give alms, do not let your
left hand know what your right hand is doing 4 that your alms may be in secret; and your
Father who sees in secret will repay you.”
As
promised I want to look at an earlier verse from the Sermon on the Mount: “"Let your light shine before men in
such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in
heaven.” John MacArthur writes “The
question is not whether or not our good works should be seen by others, but
whether they are done for that end. When
they are done ‘in such a way’ that attention and glory are focused on our ‘Gather
who is in heaven’ rather than on ourselves, God is pleased. But if they are done to be noticed by men
(6:1), they are done self-righteously and hypocritically and are rejected by
God. The difference is in purpose and motivation. When what we do is done in the right spirit
and for the right purpose, it will almost inevitably be done in the right way.”
At
times the teaching of Matthew 5:16 and 6:1 are often though to conflict with
each other because it is not recognized that they relate to different
sins. MacArthur goes on ”The discrepancy
is only imaginary. In the first passage
Jesus is dealing with cowardice, whereas in the second He is dealing with
hypocrisy. A. B. Bruce gives the helpful
explanation, ‘We are to show when tempted to hide and hide when tempted to
show.”
I
totally agree with MacArthur when he states that there has never been a time
when there have been so many different organizations looking for money from
Christians. It is difficult to know
which ones are legitimate and which ones are not. I mentioned that as believers, we need to be
in prayer as to where we should give our money.
The Bible tells us that we are to give systematically and regularly to
our local church: “1 Now concerning the
collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you
also. 2 On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and
save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come” (1 Cor.
16:1-2). I have always found it a good practice to give
to missionaries, especially when there is an urgent need. I have a friend who ministers in Bangladesh
that I have known for many years and he had a great need because of the Covid
19 virus as people were out of work and that meant in that country they had no
way to buy food. The need was there and
God certainly put this on my wife and my hearts to help out. These are the kind of things that God desires
for believers to do, but this kind of thing comes after tithing to our local church.
In
the Old Testament giving is described as a part of God’s cycle of blessing as
seen in Proverbs 11:25 “The generous man will be prosperous, And he who waters
will himself be watered.” MacArthur
writes “As we give, God blesses, and when God blesses us we give again out of
what He has given. ‘You shall celebrate
the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a tribute of a freewill offering
on your hand, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you’
(Deut. 16:19). We are to give freely out
of what God has given freely.”
The
cycle we are talking about here applies not only to material giving but to
every form of giving that is done sincerely which is to honor God and to a
need. The way of God’s people has always
been the way of giving is a very true statement.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I think that as a believer that I should
always be ready to meet the needs of those that God has laid upon my hearts and
do it cheerfully as it is a great honor to help those in need that God has laid
upon my heart.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that
the Lord will continue to work in my heart about the unspoken prayer request
that I continue to mention in Sunday school.
10/16/2020 11:53 AM
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