Hank Hanegraaff, the host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, discusses the first of three crucial spiritual disciplines in Matthew 6, almsgiving (followed by prayer and fasting). The Lord Jesus said, “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.” The love of money often represents the greatest challenge to love for the Master and for those who are created in His image and likeness. Almsgiving, better rendered mercy giving, is the quintessential criterion by which we are judged. Remember the beatitude: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). No one summed up the criterion for almsgiving better than did St. John Chrysostom: “The rich exist for the sake of the poor. The poor exist for the salvation of the rich.” While prayer and fasting are given their rightful due throughout the liturgical calendar, the church has been remarkably remiss in proffering an adequate theology of money. This despite the reality that our Lord spoke more frequently and forcefully about almsgiving (mercy giving) than even about prayer and fasting. It is time that we balance the scales so that the cross hanging from the triple braided chain of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting drapes balanced around our necks as we progress toward eternity. Jesus does not ask us to give for the sake of the poor as much as he urges us to give for the sake of our souls.

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