August 17, 2010: "Look at Me! I Did A Good Thing!"

Don't you hate it when you do a good deed and don't get any credit? Or sacrifice yourself and no one notices? Or engage in some holy act of discipline just when everybody is looking the other way? Me too.

This is a bad thing, of course. We should never notice that no one is noticing, nor should we make even the smallest effort to adjust somebody's spotlight of moral perception so that it shines on us. Jesus commanded that we do our good work quietly: "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them," he said (Matthew 6:1). When giving to the needy, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing (verse 3). Pray privately, behind closed doors (verses 5-6). And when you fast, do it so stealthily that, as you walk about town, you try hard not even to look hungry! (verses 17-18).

Recently on the radio I heard about a Christian leader who had fasted for 40 days. That's a violation right there. Evidently this leader not only told people that he was fasting, but for how long! You can't do that, Reverend. I recall hearing similar stories about "how long our leaders have been fasting" at a Promise Keepers rally in February 1996, and it was one of several things that turned me off to that conference. Publicizing our piety is wrong. Put a lid on it. I'm sure it's annoying to endure days of holy hunger and get no inspirational mileage out of it - but that's the way it has to be.

Some years ago when I was a guest speaker at a church the pastor introduced me to a woman in his congregation who had read the Bible 33 times. 33 times! Great. But you see the problem, don't you? She was keeping track. I'm all for reading the Bible, but I'm all against counting the number of times you've done it. Let not your left hemisphere know how many times your right hemisphere has read the Word.

It is best to do good simply because it is good, because it pleases God, and take no notice of whether you are being noticed. Many of us have been inspired by stories of those who became Christians - or who grew in their Christian maturity - by observing the behavior of stand-out believers and deciding "I want to be like that." Those accounts (I know several) indeed warm the heart. But in our corruption we are apt to misuse them by thinking, "If I behave really well in front of so-and-so, he'll be awfully impressed with me, and he'll ask me my secret, and I can tell him 'Jesus!'"

Hmmm. Here are some problems with making deliberate goodness a strategy for evangelism and discipleship:

1) You'll be surprised how seldom it works. A friend told me that the times in his life when he was most righteous in his Christian walk, no one noticed, no one was curious, no one said "My, what a great change has come over you!" Frustrating isn't it - how can they not notice? But maybe instead of being chagrined over the lack of attention we should be thankful for the lack of persecution. Jesus behaved perfectly and got crucified; the disciples behaved pretty well and mostly got martyred.

2) You'll be tempted to turn goodness into a mercenary endeavor. A patriot fights because he loves his country; a mercenary fights to get paid. When a person starts practicing discipline and virtue in order to receive wages in the coin of evangelical influence, he is likely to lose heart when he observes that nobody is "seeing his good work and glorifying his Father in heaven." Soon he finds himself without motive for righteous behavior. Remember that goodness is not a means to an end. It is an end. Be good for goodness' sake.

3) Boy will you get a comeuppance when you engage in a duel of virtue with an unbeliever - and lose! That has happened to me. I have known some non-religious people who excel so magnificently in several areas of moral life that all I can say to you is "Good luck trying to out-behave them." They are unlikely to be impressed with your generosity, your hospitality, your self-discipline. But even if you aren't as good as they are in some things, the fact remains that if you believe in Jesus, you still have the truth they need to hear.

Just be as good as you can no matter who is looking. Or isn't looking. God is always looking, and that should be enough for us.