Today's paragraph topic is: (Almsgiving).
Today Christ continues, with his sermon from yesterday, by telling us to give in secret, without the fan fair. He tells us, today, what the people did in his time when they gave alms. They had trumpeters sound the horns to announce that they were giving to the poor. By doing so they brought attention to themselves and praise that inflated their egos and pride.
Christ, through this example given to us over 2000 years ago, talks to us today about how we should give alms to the poor. He tells to not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. What does this mean? One could think of the old adage that the devil sits on our left side and the angel sits on our right side. So, if we let the devil know that we are giving alms, he would more than likely give us reasons to not give. He would tell us that we do not have enough means to give to others. He would question as to why should we give to others if we do not have enough. He would scorn us into thinking that we were fools in believing that we must give to the poor instead of taking care of ourselves first.
An the angel on the right would do just the opposite. He would remind us that God has provided for us so that we can share with our fellow man. He would tell us that it is right to give alms. He would say to us that we will be blessed when we share what we have. He would show us the love that is in our hearts when we are able to help others, and that love comes from God. The angel would help us to understand that selfishness is not from our God. He would help us to know that our God is a just God, who makes his sun to rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
Just as Christ has given us reasons, in the previous sermons, to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek, to be reconciled to our brothers, to not open the door to anger, to close the door to lust, he tells us here to do good in secret, within our hearts, not for personal gain or personal pride, or vanity. Give anonymously, love honestly from the heart, have compassion deeply for others that are less fortunately, and give with sincerity. For it is God who sees what we do in secret, in our hearts, and he will reward us.
Today Christ continues, with his sermon from yesterday, by telling us to give in secret, without the fan fair. He tells us, today, what the people did in his time when they gave alms. They had trumpeters sound the horns to announce that they were giving to the poor. By doing so they brought attention to themselves and praise that inflated their egos and pride.
Christ, through this example given to us over 2000 years ago, talks to us today about how we should give alms to the poor. He tells to not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. What does this mean? One could think of the old adage that the devil sits on our left side and the angel sits on our right side. So, if we let the devil know that we are giving alms, he would more than likely give us reasons to not give. He would tell us that we do not have enough means to give to others. He would question as to why should we give to others if we do not have enough. He would scorn us into thinking that we were fools in believing that we must give to the poor instead of taking care of ourselves first.
An the angel on the right would do just the opposite. He would remind us that God has provided for us so that we can share with our fellow man. He would tell us that it is right to give alms. He would say to us that we will be blessed when we share what we have. He would show us the love that is in our hearts when we are able to help others, and that love comes from God. The angel would help us to understand that selfishness is not from our God. He would help us to know that our God is a just God, who makes his sun to rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
Just as Christ has given us reasons, in the previous sermons, to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek, to be reconciled to our brothers, to not open the door to anger, to close the door to lust, he tells us here to do good in secret, within our hearts, not for personal gain or personal pride, or vanity. Give anonymously, love honestly from the heart, have compassion deeply for others that are less fortunately, and give with sincerity. For it is God who sees what we do in secret, in our hearts, and he will reward us.
