Chewing on the Word

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 6:3-4

This is hard to do, isn't it? When you do something good for someone else, it is so difficult not to seek praise for a good deed. We have all done it at one time or another, and Casey and I joke about it with each other. If I have spent time washing the dishes for him, I want him to see what I've done and tell me just how sweet I was to do that. This is a fun and funny thing that we do, but we try to be careful not to cross that fine boasting line. I know that I have had my boasting moments, ones that I am not proud of, but I am working on keeping myself in check. Maybe I am just wanting to, let's say, vent a little bit here about the times I have heard others going on and on about all the things they have done for so-and-so and somehow coating it in something else. You'll swallow that pill the first couple of times, but after a while you start thinking, "I know what you are really saying here," and the pill turns bitter. (I'm not talking about anyone you know.)

This is just another one of the things I am supposed to let God handle, because it doesn't do me any good to sit in the corner and think, "Well, I could say some things about what I've done, but I don't because it's not right..." and so on. Where does that kind of thinking get me? Just where the other person is, because I am seeking the praise of man, not God. When will I learn?