40acts: Ready to ActSample

Act 37: Secret Keeper

You’re on a stealth mission today – to donate gifts without being spotted. Imagine the joy you can spread by slipping a complimentary note into a pocket, some money into a drawer or a present onto a doorstep. No explanation required. No thanks expected. ‘Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you’ (Matthew 6:4).

This kind of giving is just fun. There’s nothing like stealth generosity: dropping a secret gift or stash of money with someone and then running before they spot you. Matthew 6:3–4 talks about a style of generosity that doesn’t only blow the socks off the recipient; it bounces back and blesses you. 

In the ancient Middle East, the ‘left hand’ symbolised the unexpected, the unpredictable – so it was with Jesus’ way of giving. When we give in ways that surprise even us, we know that God is at work. 

‘So that your giving may be in secret.’ Many people look at this verse as an austere challenge: crack down on your pride! Don’t make a big deal of yourself! But it’s a shame to miss out on the joy of this challenge. When we practise this kind of giving, we discover a new happiness that comes from putting the other person squarely in our focus, and ourselves out of the picture.

Then, of course, the blessing bounces back and hits us square in the face. When our Father in heaven sees us giving in secret, not looking for the honour that comes from earth, but looking for the honour that comes from heaven, he blesses us. We are looking past the power and image we could be getting from giving in clear view of people who would reward us. And our Father sees and rewards, instead.