Grace of giving

WHEN you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret (Mathew 6: 3-4).

This is a figure of speech. It’s hyperbole, a deliberate overstatement, which would have been immediately clear to the hearers. That Christ’s command cannot be literal is selfevident, because a hand lacks the ability to know anything, and besides the person’s brain would know what both the right hand and the left hand were doing.

There is no centre of intelligence in one hand as opposed to the other, nor is there an ability for the brain to withhold information from one hand while disclosing it to the other. We aren’t able to on or off a switch (“throw a switch” we say in Lau) so that we don’t know we’re giving or that we have given.

So what is Christ’s point? Do your giving quietly, unobtrusively. Don’t cough loudly just as you’re giving. Drop your offering without drawing attention to yourself.

Keep the envelope sealed.

Give in a spirit of humility and simplicity, as an act of worship. Don’t give in order to get your name on a list. Don’t give in a spirit of self-congratulation. Don’t dwell on your gift, fixating on it, building a mental shrine to yourself. Which reminds me of the quote, “When helping the needy, leave the camera at home”.

In other words, don’t make a big production out of it, either in view of others or in the privacy of your own heart. Like all those Tom, Dick and Harry posting on social media when sending/giving assitance to those affected by STC Yasa.

WISE MUAVONO Balawa, Lautoka