Alms

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. – Matthew 6.1-4

First I have to admit something. When I have preached this in the past I have been mistaken. I have equated alms to just general giving at church. There is some merit to that because the church is supposed to distribute to the poor, but what Jesus is talking about here is not tithes and offering, but giving to and doing charitable deeds for the poor. To those who may have heard those messages I apologise.

The alms Jesus talks about here are actually charitable deeds. They may be money given to pay for charitable deeds, or they may be charitable deeds themselves. But the point is that God’s people are to be doing for those who are less fortunate than we are.

When we do such deeds we are never to make a big show about it. We just do these deeds or give our resources quietly and go on our way.

True faith is not lived out with lights and fireworks and flashing lights and loud pronouncements. It is the everyday loving works that we do for others.

Let’s just go out today praying that God will show us some deed to charity that we can do for someone who has a need. And keep it to ourselves.