Guess which hand!

OK, here we are, back on that historic hillside in Galilee.
In fact we are uncomfortably close to areas that are shaking the world again today, but back then history was about to be shaken through life and not death; the disturbance was a [radical] new way of living. One fuelled with the purpose of God.

"Take care! Don't do your good deeds publicly, to be admired, because then you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give a gift to someone in need, don't shout about it as the hypocrites do - blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I assure you, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone, don't tell your left hand what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in secret, and your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you.” Matt 6:1-4

Jesus makes me smile when I read this :o)
But how does he pull it off?! How can he be so serious that the weight of his words still impact us today, and then say something so light heartedly funny without undermining what it is he is preaching?
‘Don't tell your left hand what your right hand is doing’ Brilliantly funny and yet poignant!

Now, Jesus isn’t advocating a life of secrecy here, instead he is encouraging us to give while simultaneously making us question our motivation.
I mean, how many charitable acts would we really do if no-one [and I mean no-one] knew about them? If the person receiving it never knew it was you? If you couldn’t tell anyone? And if you couldn’t even congratulate yourself? I reckon our motivation would dry up fast.

I always remember my mum saying that my sister only seemed to give blood so that she could be congratulated for her selfless act.

Giving out of a desire to give rather than receive [even if it is just gratitude or pleasure] is tougher than you’d think.
Try queuing up to pay for your petrol and then spontaneously paying for the pump next to you as well, don’t give it a second thought. You’ll never meet the guy or know how they’d react. You’d talk yourself out of doing it wouldn’t you. Even getting recognition from the person receiving is enough to motivate us to give.

Quite a few years ago now, Ruth and I gave [what was to us] a large amount of money to a couple struggling to make ends meet. We didn’t want them to know it was us, or to even know how they reacted to it, and so we put it in an envelope and posted it through their door when we knew they would be out (well, in reality it wasn’t as simple as that; the measures we took to remain anonymous were, in retrospect, a bit silly - hopefully we pulled it off).

Jesus is simply saying do good when no-one suspects and no-one rewards you! What will happen is that God will reward you with more than you can imagine (and sometimes that is just to open your eyes a little more the splendour of who He is and what He has created)!!!