“But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing…” (Matthew 6:3 NASB)
Have you ever wondered about this Bible verse?
I sure have.
When you read it in context, the meaning is clear: “Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people, to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that they will be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.” (Matthew 6:1-2 NASB). Jesus is trying to get us to understand that giving needs to be done with a humble spirit, a spirit of love, without expecting any glory for ourselves.
This should be an easy thing, right? I mean … how hard can it be to give to others of our time, our talents and our resources without bringing glory to ourselves?
Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple.
The first thing that happens when you give to someone is that they thank you. Our best intentions to turn the praise around to God doesn’t completely combat the seed of self-glorification that is planted in our hearts from the simple gratitude shown us from those we give to!
This is, in fact, so engrained in our culture that if we don’t receive thanks, we are incensed. I mean, if they can’t even say “thanks”, why bother giving at all?
To combat this, I often try to give in such a way that the person doesn’t know the gift comes from me so that they will have to give thanks to God, the originator of the gift.
The problem is, I know I gave the gift… The next time there is significant need that I can help alleviate, my mind immediately says, “I give generously on a regular basis. I don’t need to worry about this!”
How can I, then, truly follow the spirit of Jesus’ words when He tells us: “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing…” (Matthew 6:3 NASB)? After all, we may be made up of many parts, but those many parts all form one body. How can we keep any of those parts from knowing what the rest of them are doing?
Before you write this off as impossible, think about it: Do you know it every time your heart beats? Are you aware of each blood cell that flows through your veins? Do you know when your fingernail adds a few cells? Are you aware every time you lose a hair or a few skin cells? Do you know when your stomach secretes acid?
Of course the answer to all of those questions is, “no”. Many of these body functions are performed on an automatic level, by what scientists refer to as the “autonomic nervous system”, a network of nerves that are always active without you needing to think about it.
The problem is, giving isn’t an automatic function for most of us, so we’re back to square one…
Let’s reread once again Jesus’ specific words: “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing…”
As my mind reviewed these words recently, the words “left” and “right” jumped out at me. From my own background in speech and language sciences, I know that the left and right sides of our brain function differently. As a matter of fact, the left side of your body is controlled by the right side of your brain, and the right side of your body is controlled by the left side of your brain. Stated more simply, your left hand is controlled by your right brain, and your right hand is controlled by your left brain. In essence, when Jesus tells us to not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing, He is suggesting that our left brains handle the giving without involving our right brains!
Is this starting to sound a bit too technical?
Science tells us that the right side of our brains functions differently from the left side. Neuroscientists may not have a clear understanding of the “how” or the “why”, but it is an accepted fact that for most of us, our left brains are where we process language, while our right brains are where we process things like emotion, music, awareness, and visual-spatial skills. When Jesus tells us to not let our left hand—controlled by the right side of the brain—know what’s happening, He’s asking us to not get any emotional attachment to our giving, to not even allow the right brain to be aware of our giving.
How can you accomplish this?
By not giving your gift any thought! By letting it be totally automatic! By shutting down any memory of your giving! By not allowing your brain to process the fact that you’ve even given anything!
Not an easy thing to do, I admit. It takes practice, it takes mental control, it takes—determination to follow Jesus’ command! Easy or not, however, it is possible, for God will not ask us to do the impossible. It will, however, take His help!
The secret then, to giving the Jesus way?
Ask God to help you give generously and automatically; ask Him to help you shut down and renounce any memory or other cognitive thought that you’ve given.
Can I ask that we all give this a try? The next time you see a beggar on the street, give! and then refuse to let your mind contemplate what you’ve just done!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
