Follow Through "Acts of Righteousness"

In Matthew 6 Jesus says, “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." "Acts of righteousness" is a technical term of Jesus' day that means the things that show you are a righteous person or faithful to God. Jesus tells the people that when they do their acts of righteousness that they need to do them not for the eyes of people, but for God's eyes. What's cool about this passage is that after Jesus tells the people this he gives a commentary on each act of righteousness (Giving, fasting, prayer) in the opposite order that he first talks about them. Beginning with prayer he instructs us how to pray (The Lord's Prayer), then he talks about fasting and finally he talks about giving. The last section on giving is also the most in depth and longest (perhaps because giving alms was seen as the most righteous thing a person could do i.e. it was more important than prayer or fasting). What you notice in Jesus' teaching is not only a call to give (store up treasures in heaven, have a good eye--which means to be generous) but also Jesus' understanding that a lot of people are afraid of giving because they are afraid they won't have enough left for themselves. To remedy this concern Jesus teaches on worry and calls on people not to worry because God will care for them. Jesus' words on worry are not just about worry in general, but particularly about the worry we have when we give. So the question for us is, "Are we so worried about not having enough that we don't give."