Daily Devotional

It is easy to read this verse as a promise of a delayed payment, as if God were a heavenly cashier who simply moves the reward from one shelf to a higher one. Look more carefully at the language. Jesus does not merely say that the Father sees in secret. In verse six, only two verses later, he tells us the Father himself is in secret. The Father inhabits the hidden places. He fills the rooms no one walks into. The reward of secret obedience is not simply something the Father gives later. It is the Father himself given now.

C.S. Lewis distinguished between extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. An extrinsic reward has no natural connection to the thing done to earn it. Prize money for winning a piano competition has nothing to do with the piano. An intrinsic reward, by contrast, is the natural fulfillment of the act. The reward of marriage is the spouse. The reward of knowing God is God. So when Jesus promises a reward for secret obedience, he is not handing out tickets to be redeemed later for unrelated prizes. He is promising that the very act of secret faithfulness will deepen your communion with the Father who is already there.

This changes everything. When others are watching your performance, they receive a curated version of you. When you give in secret, when you pray in secret, when you serve where no one can see, you encounter God as he actually is. You are not performing, and he is not evaluating. You are simply there with him. This is the reward. Not heavenly points to be cashed in someday, but the present nearness of a Father whose heart is lavish toward his children.