But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. The positive instruction is the most radical alternative to public giving: the anonymity so complete that even the giver's own self-awareness is minimized. The left-hand and right-hand language is hyperbole for the internalization of generosity — the giving that does not congratulate itself or keep score of its own record. This is the generosity described in Romans 12:8 as giving with simplicity (or generosity without ulterior motive). The discipline of secret giving trains the practitioner away from the self-congratulation that public giving enables and toward the genuine other-orientation that kingdom giving requires.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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