A Higher Approval

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from you Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing, so that you giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Matt. 6:1-4).

These verses present a difficult challenge. They call us to do the right thing for the right reasons. We could press a little further and state they tell us that doing the right thing for the wrong reasons is doing the wrong thing. Simply put, God measures our actions by the motives that drive them. The difficult arises through the human desire of self-exaltation. Almost everyone what's recognition.

Maybe you labored for hours to master a spelling list in school to get a gold star. Maybe you brought home a "good work" paper to be hung on the refrigerator. Maybe you have a moment etched in your memory where your parents told you they were proud of you. Maybe your nursing a grudge against a co-worker who took credit for your work and got your promotion or pay raise. The desire to be recognized is a subtle feeling that manifests itself in many ways.

What Jesus is telling us is that we have to abandon that sort of thinking. Doing righteousness should never be about getting recognition. Seeking praise from men for doing the right thing robs God of his glory. For we are without righteousness apart from Christ. Therefore, when we do something righteous, it is because Christ through the Holy Spirit is working righteousness in us. We do righteousness because Christ the Righteous One is working in and through us to bring about his righteousness. Thus, Christ is robbed of his glory when we say, "Look at what I did."

As we look at this passage we need to understand that Jesus isn't saying we can't do our righteous deeds in public. Elsewhere, he states, "Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16). What he says in Matthew 6:1 is that we should practice righteousness to be seen of men. There is a difference between doing something publicly and doing something to receive public approval. We need to get to a place mentally and emotionally where we could care less what people think about our actions. The only approval we should seek is God's. If he is pleased with our service and gifts, why worry about what anyone else thinks?

Jesus even drives the point further by stating we shouldn't even be concerned with approving ourselves. Jesus states, "Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." It would be difficult to do something with your right hand without your left hand knowing, but that isn't what Jesus is actually trying to get at. He is using hyperbole to stress that we should be consumed with our own righteousness. We need to realize, like the apostle, that nothing good dwell within our flesh. Any righteous deed we do is because Christ is living within us, bring his righteousness to bear fruit in our lives. Thus, we have no reason to pat ourselves on the back because we did the right thing. Apart from the active, living grace of Christ in us, we would hardly ever (probably never) do the right thing.

Jesus is calling us to humility. He wants us doing the right things for the right reasons for the right person. If we will do this, he promises us greater rewards than a gold star, a week on the refrigerator, or even a "I'm proud of you." What we do, should be done for the glory of God, with the full knowledge that the good we do is really done, because Christ is in working in and through us.