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- Apr 25, 2006
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Are you a good actor?
'But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you' Matthew 6:4
A couple of weeks ago we were looking into what Jesus really meant when he called people 'hypocrites'. We found out that it was all to do with the ancient Greeks and their love of acting and theatre. Let's have another look at this today because there's more for us to discover... In Matthews Gospel Jesus actually mentions four types of Hypocrites:
1) The Poser;the Christian who makes themselves 'look good' by acting like they care about others when really they couldn't give a stuff
2) The Pusher; the Christian who pushes other people into doing what they don't do themselves
3) The Preventer; the Christian who is so obsessed with their own petty issues that they stop other people from experiencing God
4) The Preoccupied: the Christian who is more bothered about how they look on the outside than who they are inside.
So what's all this got to do with today's verse? Well Jesus is letting us know that He wants us to help anyone and everyone around us who's in need, anyway that we can, BUT, with the right motive! He doesn't want you to put on an act and do things to make yourself look good, that's being a hypocrite! Do it because you love Jesus and want to be more like Him. Then you'll find God smiling over you, saying 'that's my kid!' And get this....He'll give you a reward EVERYTIME!
written by Bob Gass
'But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you' Matthew 6:4
A couple of weeks ago we were looking into what Jesus really meant when he called people 'hypocrites'. We found out that it was all to do with the ancient Greeks and their love of acting and theatre. Let's have another look at this today because there's more for us to discover... In Matthews Gospel Jesus actually mentions four types of Hypocrites:
1) The Poser;the Christian who makes themselves 'look good' by acting like they care about others when really they couldn't give a stuff
2) The Pusher; the Christian who pushes other people into doing what they don't do themselves
3) The Preventer; the Christian who is so obsessed with their own petty issues that they stop other people from experiencing God
4) The Preoccupied: the Christian who is more bothered about how they look on the outside than who they are inside.
So what's all this got to do with today's verse? Well Jesus is letting us know that He wants us to help anyone and everyone around us who's in need, anyway that we can, BUT, with the right motive! He doesn't want you to put on an act and do things to make yourself look good, that's being a hypocrite! Do it because you love Jesus and want to be more like Him. Then you'll find God smiling over you, saying 'that's my kid!' And get this....He'll give you a reward EVERYTIME!
written by Bob Gass
