Do Not Let Your Left Hand Know What Your Right Hand Is Doing

Do Not Let Your Left Hand Know What Your Right Hand Is Doing

What strong words these are! Jesus certainly knew why He used such strong words. He knew what dwells in man.

If He had said that we should not tell one and all about our works, that we should speak about them to the least number of people possible, most people would have understood that.

Even if He had said that we should not speak to any person about them, even that would have been a mild expression. But now He said that not even the one hand of my body should know what the other hand is doing. In other words: I know only in part about them myself—then how much less would other people be aware of them.

How incredibly far such a life and such a message is from a normal, human life! This is far from the life that converted people normally live; it is even unlike the life that people can live who have victory over sin.

People are quite desperate to trumpet their works; they are just itching to do it. If a person has performed a good deed, it is difficult for him to find rest in his spirit until he has found an opportunity—either by word or in writing—to share it. Of course this is done under the cover that it was not actually the intention, but it kind of fit in very well to have it woven into a comment about it among other things he was saying; he just happened to mention it.

We can say that Jesus’ words about the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing are very strong, but then man’s weakness in this area is also very great.

There is plenty of opportunity to judge ourselves. For example, when it comes to giving gifts, one is not opposed to taking out one’s wallet so that someone sees it or (if it is a little bit more) have the banknote ready to put in the collection so that others can see its color. If someone wants to give money to another person so that others do not see it, one nevertheless asks the other person to step aside so that others can hear it. By doing this one has not said that it was for the purpose of giving gifts; but if, for example, this should happen just before a preacher’s departure, one has in any case given others a good opportunity to guess what the real reason was.

For example, one shows a letter to one’s friends that begins with a hearty thanks for gifts received; or one goes to visit a sick person at noon with a large basket on one’s arm, or one sends a gift with someone else instead of taking it oneself; or one delivers a gift personally and receives the subsequent honor and thanks, instead of using a given opportunity to put it in a collection box where it would be hidden and unknown to all. Or one lets the treasurer announce one’s name in spite of the fact that there is no godly reason for doing it; or one lets him write one’s initials so that people can at least guess who it is; or even if I don’t give my permission for my initials to be announced, the treasurer still knows—as well as all those to whom he speaks about my good deed—because I am not sending my gift anonymously. Had I done it, I would have avoided all praise in this world and would thus have had it waiting for me at the resurrection. God pays justly and exactly according to His laws and according to His standards.

When Jesus says, “Do not . . .” it is not only so that I shall not go and speak about my good deeds, but He urges me to make sure that they remain unknown: See to it, take care, make sure, be careful and interested in, consider, be on guard, make an effort to give your gifts and do your good deeds in the hidden, for your Father sees and keeps exact accounts of what is happening in secret.

From Matthew 6:17 and 18 we see that the intention is for us to hide what we want to do by something that almost appears to be the opposite; in other words, it is a pure art of war.

At meetings you can hear some people pray for everyone with whom they have spoken during the day, at the hospital, etc., and for a blessing over this and that which they have done. Praying is good, but by praying in this way, the person has also announced his good deeds, which is a different matter altogether.

For example, in a family setting it can happen that a mother demands of her daughter or son to know about their good deeds. Then it is vital to be strong in the good so you can resist such a demand by using the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s Word.