The Bible tells us to give alms to the poor and at the same time gives us a series of tips on how to give correctly. There are people who show off their alms, that is, they let everyone know that they gave money or something to the poor.
I remember once I saw a post on Facebook of a pastor who donates food and clothing to prisoners or incarcerated and publishes everything on that social network. This really upset me, although there are those who justify it to say that it is for donor organizations to realize that they are doing the work, however, even that can be kept private.
The Bible says in Matthew 6:
1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
The first thing is that Jesus here is saying that if we are going to give alms to the poor, we do not have to go around announcing the favor that we have done, because of course, that is what the hypocrites do in the churches, and the politicians in the streets, what for? To be praised by others, to say they are good men and to win the favor of others. But is that correct? Not! That is not the way a man of God uses.
Jesus continues and says: “When you give alms, do not know your left what your right hand does”. In short, Jesus is saying here: When you give to the poor, others do not have to know about that. We do not have to go telling all of our friends and family, well, what do we earn from that?
The wonder of giving without letting the world to know about it is what Jesus himself describes: “If your alms are in secret, your Father who sees in secret will reward you in public.” We do not know what kind of reward Jesus is talking about here, but the point is that He tells us about a reward, and I assure you that any reward that comes from God is the best we can receive, because everything that God gives is good.
Dear reader, we can learn a lot from this, therefore, we have understood through this biblical quote that if we give we do not have to walk presuming, but if we do it in secret our Father who sees in secret will reward us in public. Hallelujah!
