The Father's Reward

Year after year, for 61 years, Gallup’s 10 Most Admired Men included the evangelist Billy Graham. Graham excelled in integrity, devotion and faithfulness. Graham also excelled in generosity. From his life of generosity Graham learned, “God has given us two hands—one to receive with and the other to give with. We are not cisterns made for hoarding; we are channels made for sharing.” You have two hands. One is for working, investing, earning and receiving. The other hand is for giving. One hand is the inlet, and the other hand is the outlet. The Dead Sea in Israel is dead because there is no outlet. If a person doesn’t exercise their outlet hand, they will be a “Dead Sea.” In Jesus’ longest recorded teaching he said: “When you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 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. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:2-4 (ESV) Jesus gave three instructions for giving. I want to learn these, and I hope you want to learn them too. Don’t toot your horn! Tooting your own horn for your generosity is hypocritical and praise seeking. Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Don’t let your inlet hand know what your outlet hand is doing, and don’t let your outlet hand know what your inlet is doing. If your inlet hand thinks your outlet hand is giving too much, your inlet hand will throw a tantrum. Don’t let your inlet hand know what your outlet hand is doing. Give in secret. When a person gives without tooting their horn, they open their outlet hand and keep it secret, “your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of anything better than the reward of the Father! I want the Father’s reward! How about you?