But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Matthew 6:3
“Compassion, charity, duty and justice are all important virtues as we interact with one another. In fact they should all work in harmony… I believe that generosity is the first car in the train of virtues. Without it, the other virtues are unlikely to ever get started or be fully expressed.
On a number of occasions I have observed individuals who wish to practice charity, but their attitude is so lacking generosity that the expression of charity is almost lost. There is such precision and calculation to their gift that one questions whether they really mean to help another person or simply check off another mark on the list of good things they have to do. In an unfortunate way the process of expressing their charity undermines the very wholesomeness of the virtue. Generosity removes the pettiness and calculation that can easily work against the goodness of our original intent.
The Bible describes the attitude that the giver should practice when making a contribution — don’t let the left hand know what the right hand is doing (Matthew 6:3). The implication is not to think too much about your gift or how it will benefit you. The gift that is too calculated is not worth giving.”
Dave Toycen in The Power Of Generosity: How to Transform Yourself and Your World (Waynesboro: Authentic, 2004) 3-4.
It’s sobering to think we can tarnish “the very wholesomeness of the virtue” of generosity by being too calculated or by encouraging such over-calculation in the lives of others.
Conformity to the world is also evident when we start using merit-based giving language like this charity or that charity “deserves” our support. We should follow the leading of the Spirit over charity ratings because Christian giving flowed first from Christ to us when we were undeserving by grace. None of us was more deserving than another.
It’s getting close to the year-end giving season. That’s how it is often described in the USA associated with our tax laws. What’s my advice?
If you want to calculate things while also preserving “the very wholesomeness of the virtue,” adopt the perspective of Richard Foster in The Challenge of the Disciplined Life, “Rather than, ‘How much of my money should I give to God?’ we learn to ask, ‘How much of God’s money should I keep for myself?'” Calculate how much of God’s money you need and give the rest away!
Why do this? It all belongs to God, and that’s what Jesus said to do. I suggest you ask the Father to guide you in sharing it joyfully. Likely the Spirit will lead you to show mercy to your neighbor, to put it work with your local church, and to give it to ministries that engage in God’s work regionally, nationally, and globally.