Today at Truenorth, we talked about how we could follow the charge of Jesus to pray and give in secret – just for God to see. Here is a great way to do that: sponsor a child through Compassion International. If you do this, you can write to your child and your monthly donation pays for the child’s food, school, etc. So take Jesus’ challenge in Matthew 6 starting in verse 1: Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ in front of others, 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 others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. [skip down to the next paragraph, verse 5] And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you they have received their reward in full. But when you pray go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
