Giving, praying and fasting in secret
Do good without an audience
If the applause is the point, the applause is all you get.
Key points
- What it means: Jesus warns about people who give, pray and fast where everyone can see.
- Try this: Do one kind thing this week and tell no one.
- The good news: God sees what no one else does, the good and the bad, and loves you anyway.
What he said
“Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does”
Matthew 6:3
Find it: Matthew 6:1–6
Read Matthew 6:1–6
1 “Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 Therefore when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does, 4 so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 5 “When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
What it means
Jesus warns about people who give, pray and fast where everyone can see. They get what they wanted: to be seen. That is the whole reward.
Do good so quietly, he says, that your left hand doesn’t know what your right hand is doing. God sees, and that is enough.
At work
- Give credit away. Do the helpful thing without copying in the boss.
- Good work done quietly builds trust that self-promotion can’t.
With people
- Not every kind act needs a post. Some of the best ones never get one.
The hard part
Sometimes being seen encourages others, and that is fine. The question is the motive: whose attention do you need?
Try this
Do one kind thing this week and tell no one.
Go deeper
The good news
God sees what no one else does, the good and the bad, and loves you anyway.
Nobody lives this perfectly. How to read it