Jesus said, “... don’t
let your left hand know what your right hand is up to, so that your charitable
donation may be in secret; then your Father, who sees in secret, will give you
your reward.”
—
Matthew 6:3b-4 (USC)
The cost of discipleship is like Peter’s denial, but it isn’t a denial
of the Lord; it’s a denial of ourselves. Jesus has freed us in order to be
individuals of the Kingdom, scattered like a diaspora in the world, but we only
bring glory to his covenant intent when we say about ourselves – having come to
know ourselves implicitly – “I do not know this man/woman.”
We have to come to
know ourselves as sinners saved by grace – a wondrous reality – before we can
approach the ‘unknowing’ of ourselves.
Once we have known
and then unknown ourselves life has a carefree serendipity about it. Only as we
have come to know ourselves do we gain the freedom to join Christ’s call and,
therefore, choose to unknow ourselves.
In becoming unknown
to ourselves – which is to detach from the power of our desires and empower the
Holy Spirit’s capacity to renew us in the moment – we come to approach
discipleship’s highest call.
We are able to do
the holy things in secret. That being our intent, God honours it. What we do
will not be found out unless it will be, in the Lord’s will, for the Lord’s
purpose and glory.
The greatest
individual satisfaction we can experience is having done something worthy in
secret. Watch for what God will do! Yet, the surreal paradox is, we gain a
passion for no reward; for no reward other than this reward of the Lord’s.
***
Our Lord sees in
secret.
At once we do the
noble thing, and we have the loneliest feeling that no one has noticed nor
cared, we are effused to the Lord.
When the world is
out of sight and out of mind and the mind and sight are saved for God, then we
feel truly at home to ourselves. Having known ourselves and then having unknown
ourselves, we have truly come to know ourselves once more – stripped bare of
ourselves.
These concepts have
a confusing language about them; but take heart: Jesus wants you to partake of
him so even stranger concepts may be pondered and harnessed.
***
QUESTIONS in REVIEW:
1. Will you deny your ‘needs’ of
acknowledgement and appreciation long enough to experience the richness of God’s
blessing – an as yet untold experience?
2. Secrets have great power. How can
you unfold the secrets (blessings for others) God has willed for you to covertly
unleash?
© 2015 S. J. Wickham.
Note: USC version is Under the Southern Cross, The New Testament in Australian English
(2014). This translation was painstakingly developed by Dr. Richard Moore, a NT
Greek scholar, over nearly thirty years.
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