GIVE SECRETLY
A 6-Day Devotional
New Direction Community Church
Text: Matthew 6:1-4
Matthew 6:1-4 NLT — “Watch out! Don't do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don't do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”
DAY 1
The Audience You're Really Giving To
Scripture:
Matthew 6:1 NLT
“Watch out! Don't do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven.”
Devotional Thought:
Think back to the last time you did something generous and somebody found out about it. Maybe you covered a stranger's order in the drive-through. Maybe you quietly paid a bill for a family in need, and word got back to you that they knew it was you. Be honest — when people found out, how did it feel? If we're honest, it felt good. Really good.
Here's the tension Jesus steps into. He doesn't say giving is wrong. He doesn't say being seen is always sinful. He says watch out for who you're performing for. Somewhere between our hearts and our hands, generosity has a way of quietly turning into performance. We start giving for an audience instead of giving before God — and we don't always notice the shift, because it feels the same on the outside. Only God can see the difference on the inside.
You only get to pick one audience: people, or the Father. Jesus isn't asking you to stop giving. He's asking you to check who you're giving for.
Reflection Question:
When was the last time you felt proud that people found out about something generous you did? What was that pride really about?
Prayer:
Father, search my heart. Show me where I've been giving for an audience instead of giving before You. Teach me to check my motives before I check my reputation. Amen.
I give before my Father, not for an audience.
DAY 2
Applause Is a Payment, Not a Reward
Scripture:
Matthew 6:2 NLT
“When you give to someone in need, don't do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get.”
Devotional Thought:
The word “hypocrite” in Jesus' day described a stage actor — someone playing a role behind a mask. Jesus isn't saying that giving for applause is sinning by giving. He's saying it's acting. And actors get exactly what actors are owed: applause. Nothing more.
That phrase — “they have received all the reward they will ever get” — isn't a threat. It's a simple transaction. If the applause was the goal, the applause was the payment. Paid in full. Nothing owed after that.
That should unsettle us a little. It's not about never letting anyone see your generosity — it's about what you were actually giving for. If the compliment was the whole point, the compliment was the whole reward. God doesn't add His blessing on top of a transaction that's already closed.
Reflection Question:
Is there a compliment or a moment of recognition you've been quietly replaying — treating it like the reward, when it was only ever meant to be a byproduct?
Prayer:
Lord, I don't want to trade Your reward for a moment of applause. Help me give in a way that leaves the account open only to You. Amen.
I don't need applause to know my giving matters to God.
DAY 3
The Compliment You Already Cashed
Scripture:
2 Corinthians 9:9-10 NLT
“As the Scriptures say, ‘They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.’ For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.”
Devotional Thought:
Underneath yesterday's verse is an uncomfortable question: how much of what I've done for God has already been fully paid for by a compliment I already received? It's worth sitting with that instead of rushing past it.
Here's the good news buried in the discomfort — Paul reminds us that God is the source behind every act of generosity in the first place. He provides the seed, He provides the bread, and He's the one growing a harvest of generosity in you that was never meant to run through other people's approval to reach its full reward. Real generosity isn't a performance that needs an audience to validate it. It's a harvest God Himself is growing, whether or not anyone ever claps for it.
If you've already been “paid” for something through recognition, that doesn't disqualify you from giving again. It just means it's time to let the next act of generosity be planted somewhere only God can see it grow.
Reflection Question:
Is there generosity in your life that you're still quietly “spending” the credit for — a moment you keep returning to because people noticed?
Prayer:
Father, thank You for being the source of every good thing I've ever given. Help me plant the next seed of generosity where only You can see it grow. Amen.
God is growing a harvest in me that no compliment can buy.
DAY 4
Secrecy Protects You From Yourself
Scripture:
Matthew 6:3 NLT
“But when you give to someone in need, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”
Devotional Thought:
This is deliberately impossible to take literally — your hands don't have knowledge. Jesus uses exaggeration to make the point land hard: keep this so quiet that even the parts of you closest to the act don't get to celebrate it.
Why so strong? Because Jesus knows something about us — self-awareness of our own generosity is dangerous. The moment you become proud of how secretly you gave, you've already broken the secret. Pride doesn't need an audience of other people. It can throw itself a private party in your own head.
Jesus isn't just protecting the gift from other people's eyes. He's protecting it from your own pride. Proverbs 16:18 warns us that pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall. Secrecy, then, isn't about hiding out of shame. It's a guardrail — a way of keeping your own heart honest about why you gave in the first place.
Reflection Question:
Where have you caught yourself feeling quietly proud of your own humility or generosity — even when no one else was watching?
Prayer:
Lord, guard my heart from the pride that hides even from other people. Let me hold my giving loosely enough that I don't need to congratulate myself for it. Amen.
I don't need to celebrate my own generosity — God already sees it.
DAY 5
Nothing Given for God Is Ever Actually Unseen
Scripture:
Matthew 6:4 NLT
“Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”
Devotional Thought:
Here's the good news buried inside the discipline. Secret giving is not the same as unnoticed giving. God is not absent from the room just because no one else is in the room. He sees in secret — meaning the very place you thought no one was watching is the one place where Someone always was.
This is the promise that makes the whole passage bearable. You're not giving into a void. You're giving directly to the Father, with no interference, no middleman, no applause diluting what's His to reward. What feels like the loneliest moment of a hidden gift is actually the most watched moment in the room — watched by the only audience whose opinion determines your reward.
If you've ever wondered whether your quiet acts of generosity actually matter, since no one ever finds out, this verse answers that. They matter more, not less, because they were never meant for anyone else to see.
Reflection Question:
Does it change how you think about an unnoticed act of generosity to know that God calls Himself the One “who sees everything”?
Prayer:
Father, thank You that nothing I give in secret is ever truly hidden from You. Let that truth be enough for me, even when no one else ever knows. Amen.
What I give in secret, my Father sees — and that is enough.
DAY 6
Give Secretly
Scripture:
Matthew 6:4 NLT
“Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”
Devotional Thought:
Here's the action for this week. One word: give secretly. Not “give more.” Not “give smarter.” Give secretly.
Find one act of generosity this week — a gift, a bill covered, a need met — and do it in a way that guarantees no one will ever trace it back to you. No mention. No story. No slip in conversation. If it's tempting to tell someone “just so they know,” that's exactly the temptation Jesus named in this passage.
Give in secret. God sees anyway. Let it be seen by exactly one audience.
Reflection Question:
What's one act of generosity you can do this week that no one will ever be able to trace back to you?
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, this week, let me give in a way that only You see. Take away my need for anyone else to know. Let my reward come from You alone. Amen.
Give in secret. God sees anyway.