But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in

secret himself shall reward thee openly.  Matthew 6:3-4

       He starts out making perfect sense. Jesus admonishes the crowd not show off when doing good deeds or acts of righteousness. He says hypocrites are those who announce what they are doing. Give to the needy but do it quietly. If you do not, then you have already received your reward—the admiration of man.

     Then He says I’m not to let my left hand know what my right hand is doing? Pardon my questioning Lord but isn’t that rather impossible? They are both controlled by the same brain and observed by the same pair of blue eyes. Then there’s the fact that my hands work together when serving. If not for verses 1 and 2, I’d be scratching my head in confusion through the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. I’d probably send Him an e-mail afterward asking how this is even possible. How do you not let one hand know what the other is doing?

     You can’t, but that’s how important the secret is. Don’t just keep a secret. Keep an impossible secret that goes against nature. We all love a pat on the back and recognition. The praise of man warm’s our hearts. But God wants us to serve with no expectation of those things. He has His own appreciation banquet planned and it will not compare to how man can praise.

       Man gives tokens of appreciation that gather dust, take up space, are quickly consumed and easily forgotten. God’s reward is eternal. So as impossible as it may seem, do not let anyone know what you are doing.