"Secret Giving"

 

“Secret Giving”

 

One of the most popular early TV series was “The Millionaire”, which aired between 1955 and 1960. The show involved a wealthy benefactor’s “hobby” of anonymously giving a million tax-free dollars to individuals and following the results in the recipients’ lives. Most wanted to know the source of their good fortune but the giver remained a mystery to them.

A recent devotional in Our Daily Bread brought several examples of secret giving to my mind. During my college days each of the four issues of Tower, the school’s yearbook, published while I was there had a full page in the advertising section which said simply, “Congratulations to the Class of (in my case) 1965” and underneath in small print “Compliments of a friend of the College”. Early in my ministry I was given an envelope from the offering on which was written, “Pastor McMillan—Personal” and when I opened it there was a $20 bill inside. And from time to time a gentleman in one of our churches would give an envelope to Karen to be passed on to someone he’d heard had a need with instructions not to reveal its source. In a world in which people “…(love) human praise….” (John 12:43) these acts of generosity are to be appreciated by us and are honored by God.

Jesus addressed a crowd gathered to hear what we refer to as His “Sermon on the Mount” in which He spoke on a number of subjects surrounding godly living. One issue He covered was giving to the poor: “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before (people), to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 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 (people). I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”(Matthew 6:1-4, emphasis added). I don’t think Jesus was saying that only secretly sharing our resources is God-honoring (Paul counseled believers to bring their donations to the church meetings on the Lord’s Day—see 1 Corinthians 16:2) but that our motivation not be to call attention to ourselves as appears to be the case in Luke 21:1-4; rather, “You must each make up your own mind as to how much you should give…For God loves the person who gives cheerfully.” (2 Corinthians 9:7, NLT),

So do I give (or serve) to be seen or to honor God? I must remember, “…Whatever (I) do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan