Imagine doing something really generous for someone, but there is one condition: nobody can ever know it was you.

You can't tell your friends. You can't mention it to your family. Even the person you helped will never know where the help came from.

Would you still do it?

I think most of us would like to say yes. But let's make it a little harder. There will be no thank-you. Nobody will tell you how kind you are. Nobody will think more highly of you because of it. You simply get to do something good for someone, and that's it.

Would that be enough?

That's where the question becomes a little tougher. Because most of us aren't going around thinking, “I want people to be impressed by me.” But we do like being noticed. We like hearing, “You did a great job.” We like being thanked when we help. And even when we do something for God, it can feel good when other people notice how committed we are.

None of that means the good things we do aren't genuine. But it does raise a question worth thinking about: How much of what I do would I still do if nobody was watching?

There is something interesting about the examples Jesus chose when He spoke about this in the Bible.

In Matthew 6, He talked about people giving to the needy, praying and fasting while seeking attention for it.

Imagine seeing someone give generously to a person in need. You would probably think, “What a kind person they are.” See someone praying and you would think, “They really love God.” See someone fasting and you might admire their commitment.

And that was exactly the problem. Jesus said some people were doing these things “to be seen by others.” (Matthew 6:1)

Yes, they gave, they prayed and they fasted. But they also desired to be admired for it.

That's what makes this worth examining in ourselves. Sometimes the question isn't whether what we're doing is good. The question is whether doing good is enough, or whether we also need people to think well of us for doing it.

Jesus then says something I find quite sobering: “Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.”

They wanted people to notice. They did. They got exactly what they wanted. But they traded God's reward for people's recognition.

To be fair, most of us have been taught to enjoy recognition from the time we were children.

Bring home a good grade and your parents say, “Well done!” Score a goal and everyone cheers. Draw something at school and it ends up on the fridge. That's a good thing. Children need encouragement, and adults do too.

But sometimes it can become easy to connect doing well with being noticed for doing well.

Then adulthood gives us a rather rude surprise. You can do a great job and nobody says anything.

You go above and beyond at work and your manager gets praised. You keep doing the right thing and there is no applause at the end of it. And that's often when we discover how much the applause mattered.

If you find yourself thinking, “Why do I even bother?” simply because nobody said well done, you may need to reflect on that. Because perhaps the thing you were hoping for wasn't only the satisfaction of doing something well. Perhaps you were hoping to be seen doing it too.

Jesus gives a surprisingly practical answer to this.

When He talks about giving, He says not to make a show of it. When He talks about prayer, He tells His listeners to go into a room and close the door. When He talks about fasting, He tells them not to make it obvious to everyone around them. And each time, He brings their attention back to something important: “Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Think about the contrast. The people showing off for others got the reward they were looking for: people saw them. But Jesus tells us we can do something good without needing people to know, because God already does.

Maybe one way to loosen our need for recognition is to deliberately practice doing things without expecting applause.

Pray for that homeless person or buy them lunch without posting about it. Do something thoughtful for someone without expecting them to return the favor. Give anonymously when you can. Do something good and allow God to be the only one who knows you did it.

There is something freeing about doing good and not needing anybody to know. You don't have to wait for the thank-you to know you have done well. You can simply do things because they were worth doing.

There will probably be things you do in this life that nobody ever gives you credit for.

People won't always see the sacrifice you make for your family. They won't realise how difficult it was to do the right thing when doing the wrong thing would have been easier. They won't know about every person you helped, every prayer you prayed for someone who never knew you were praying, or every time you kept going when nobody thought to encourage you.

And sometimes that can hurt. We all like to be appreciated. But Matthew 6 gives us a beautiful reminder for those moments: “Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Maybe you've been frustrated because nobody appreciates the work you put in. But God does.

So perhaps the next time you do something good and nobody acknowledges it, instead of feeling sad or disappointed, remind yourself: God saw what I did.

And His “Well done” is what matters most.

✝ Kingdom Mantra