Friday 01Apr2022
- Matthew 5:16 WEB World English Bible
- Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
- Matthew 6:1 WEB
- Be careful that you don't do your chartable giving ("acts of righteousness") before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
In my New Testament reading today, I came across two verses in the Sermon on the Mount containing the teachings of our Lord Iesus the Anointed One that appears to contradict one another.
In the first verse, Matthew 5:16, our Lord commands us to live as light shining in this world, in such a way that people around us will see our good works and give glory to our Father in Heaven.
However, another verse, Matthew 6:1, seems to tell us to do the opposite: to ensure that our acts of righteousness, like giving alms, are not carried out to be seen by people around us. Otherwise, we will have no reward from our Heavenly Father.
How do we reconcile these two apparently contradictory statements from our Lord?
Should we do good works before men? Or do we make sure that our good works are not done before men?
The answer lies in the words "that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven in Matthew 5:16.
Our Lord commands us to let our good works, even our entire life, be seen by people around us as a testimony of Godly living, like light shining in darkness, so that when they see the good works we do in our Godly life, they will glorify our God.
However, there is a precaution to take. In Matthew 6:1, we are told "be careful" that our good works are not deliberately, purposedly, and intentionally done just to be seen by people around us, may I add, with the hope that people will praise us, even glorify us. If we do our good works to be glorified by men, we have no reward from our Father in heaven
Brothers and Sisters in the Anointed One, let us make sure that when people around us see our good works, they will glorify our Father in Heaven. Let us beware of doing good works to bring praise and glory upon ourselves.
