NIGERIAN BAPTIST CONVENTION SEEK DAILY (NBC) Monday, September 18, 2023 COMMENDABLE GIVING

 

Memory verse:* But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:3-4, NIV

*Matthew 6:1-4*

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.

6:2 "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.

6:3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

 6:4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

                         ________

A civilian governor in Nigeria met one of his old classmates on the road whose car needs repair. He asked the man to join him in his official vehicle and asked one of his officials to get the friend's vehicle repaired. The governor added a new car to the repaired one, and gave both to the friend. At the governor's request, the friend did not disclose the good deed. Eventually, the friend felt the need to testify at the wake of the governor.

Jesus instructed that giving is better done without publicity to avoid missing God's reward for it. This is what He meant by saying that the left hand should not know what the right hand does. 

God knows everything without drawing attention to what we have done. Giving is a critical component within the grounds of faith we commit to as Christians. Giving allows us to share in the bounty of what God has graced us with and the satisfaction of knowing we are doing something good for others.

_Wherever you are and whatever you are able to do are privileges sustained by the grace of God. Do not consider yourself better than others. God is depending on you to meet peoples' needs but not to insult their Maker in the process._

*Insight:* Do not insult people because of their condition, they are also human beings.

*Prayer:* Help me, LORD, to be a true channel of blessings to all around me.