We made a mistake

Matthew 6:
"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, 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 men. I tell you the truth, 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."


When I entered my first years of ministry in California, our church was small but active in the community. I have many fond memories of my time there, but one incident sticks in my mind as a bad situation.

One evening after the Sunday night service, our head pastor asked a certain family to come forward and stand next to him in front of the entire church. The "Smith" family had been beset by numerous financial setbacks through the years, and they could not make ends meet. the mother and four children stood before the church - the children arranging from infant to teens.

Our pastor then made a ceremony of bring bag after bag of groceries up front and handing them to each family member or placing them at their feet.

Though the gift was bountiful, the situation was not. I will always remember the look on the faces of the teens - pure embarrassment and humiliation.

In order to display our own good works, our church had made a bad mistake. Small wonder why, after graduation, none of the children returned to our church even though they lived in town. Practically every one of them has become obsessed with making money.

We made a bad mistake. This should have been done in private.