3 signs you’re doing the right thing for the wrong reasons
“Be careful not to practice your 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. 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. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:1-4)
After The Screwtape Letters and The Chronicles of Narnia were published, C.S. Lewis began to experience a huge financial windfall. Because of his apprenticeship to Jesus, Lewis was resolute about giving more than two-thirds of his book royalties away to orphans, widows, and the poor.
But he went to great lengths to ensure his giving was done in secret. He set up a charitable trust called the Agape Fund, which he used for years to anonymously bless the poor.
Lewis’s story is a practical case study of how to “give to the needy…in secret” specifically. But more generally, it’s a great example of combatting the temptation Jesus is focused on in today’s passage: doing the right things for the wrong reasons.
The fact is that God doesn’t need any person to do any good deed. What he wants is for us to do righteousness rightly. To pursue the mission of heaven with methods of heaven. To do “good works” for God’s eternal applause rather than man’s temporal applause. Then and only then will “your Father, who sees what is done in secret…reward you.”
But let’s be honest: Our capacity for self deception is unparalleled. So how can we discern if we are doing the right things for the wrong reasons? Let me give you three signs.
#1: You spend mental energy hoping someone will notice.
#2: You get upset when someone doesn’t show appreciation for what you did for them.
#3: You manipulate conversations in order to mention your good deeds.
I’ve been guilty of that last one way more frequently than I care to admit. But I’ll confess one instance here in hopes that you will avoid my folly.
The other day, I was talking with a friend and said, “I was in Nebraska the other day with my travel partner…” hoping my friend would ask me what a “travel partner” is. Sure enough, he did. I explained that, “Every time I speak at an event I travel with a brother in Christ to be above reproach.” And my friend said, “Oh wow man I really respect that.” And I thought to myself, Good because that’s exactly why I led you to ask me about it.
You and I are constantly tempted to do the right thing for the wrong reasons. How should you and I respond when we sin in this way? Repent. Ask God to give you more of the heart of Christ who came to do righteousness in relative obscurity. And then thank God for the reward coming your way when you do the same.
