Reading: Matthew 6: 1-18
Please change your mind to the shape of a child's so that you can understand the Word that God has for you today.
The Sermon on the Mount is a beautiful preaching that Jesus Christ pronounced, it is believed, on the mountain now known as the Mount of the Beatitudes. In this precious preaching, Jesus left us solid foundations to build our life and to change our perspective of it. I want, with this series of devotionals, to draw the attention of each one of you to the importance of the application of this beautiful preaching for our daily life, a preaching that is as valid today as it was when it was first taught:
Do it for God:
Doing spiritual actions does not make us spiritual people, if we do them with the wrong attitude.
Jesus, in these three passages, teaches us that the right actions we do must be executed for the right reasons and in the right way; otherwise they will not like God nor receive their reward.
A second foundation that we can learn from these three passages is to remember that we have a wonderful God who is able to reward us. The author of Hebrews reminds us that there are two conditions to approach God, one that we believe exists and the second that we believe can reward those who seek it.
The search for a reward is inherent in us. We all seek to be rewarded and find a meaning to do the right thing, and I think we can all attest to the sense of accomplishment we have in doing something good for another person. I do not consider this to be bad in any way, I think it is natural; the question we should ask ourselves is, from whom do I expect a reward?
This brings us to a third foundation on which I want to make special emphasis, because you can clearly see how Jesus Christ made an effort to make it clear in the biblical text: There is a difference between the man who does the right thing to please God and the one who does the right thing to please yourself and others.
Constantly in the Bible we find the comparison between the just and the bad. From Genesis, through the Law of Moses, the psalms of David, the proverbs of Solomon and the exhortations of the prophets we see a God who calls us to live a life of justice and righteousness; to a God who is able to punish the wicked and bless the righteous. In this case, Jesus makes an even more precise comparison, because in the previous case, the actions defined the just and the wicked; However, Jesus here points to the attitudes with which actions are done rather than the actions themselves.
Our Lord speaks of three actions that we can all say are right and spiritual: Give, pray and fast. Can we say that someone who does these things is doing something wrong? The answer, oddly enough, is yes.
Give offering:
Giving offerings for God's work or helping someone in need is right. But are we doing it to please God or men?
If by giving an offering or helping someone, we do it in such a way that everyone can find out about the great donation we made, how good we are and how much we help; then we are doing something inherently right for selfish reasons, so we will not receive reward from God in such a case.
Instead, if we are going to do this, we must do it in silence, in secret, to ensure that it is only God and the other person who knows what was done. If we do it with this attitude, then God will know that we are trying to please Him and will reward us for it.
There are times when churches give accounts of what they do with tithes, offerings and donations to their members. I think this is not bad (in fact, I consider it necessary). In the passage, Jesus refers to those people who give with the purpose of being seen and admired by men and not to seek to please God.
