Daily Bible Verses for 6/15/2016

Bible Verse
Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

Reading Notes
Jesus has already given us so much. We are forgiven because He was willing to be forsaken on our behalf. Jesus the living God of the universe, stepped out of eternity and took on humanity and faced death on the Cross as a sacrifice for us. Though sinless, He took our sin upon Himself, in order to give us salvation through faith in Him alone. Once we turn our lives over to Christ and we begin to live for Him the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts. And our lives, then take on a joy which defies all explanation, because of our love for Christ. And it’s because of this joy we have as a result of our salvation, this love for Christ that we give to others. Because Jesus has so freely given to us, we are able to give to those in need and to help build the body of Christ. A fruit of our faith is that giving becomes a desire from our hearts. A desire to help those around us with our time, talents and money.

We should never give out of compulsion. In addition, we should also never give out of a desire for recognition or status. Jesus in this section of scripture is speaking about the Pharisees. The Pharisees gave not because they wanted to help and not because they really cared about anyone who would receive the charities. Rather, they gave to get attention and recognition from the people. To them, giving was an investment in their job status and social standing. Because of this when they gave they made sure everyone knew about it. They intentionally made a social spectacle, making sure to use the appropriate amount of false humility in order to make others think more highly of them, then they deserved. In this way they made their giving as part of their job skills in order to gain more in return for themselves. Jesus tells us we are not to do the same, instead we are to give out our love for Christ and out of our love for others, because of what Jesus did for us.