SECRECY AND SACRIFICE

Secrecy and Sacrifice are two more spiritual practices that are not made easy by our culture. However, they are two spiritual practices that will produce incredible freedom from the chains of emotional, spiritual, and material insecurity.

Secrecy: Finding Security in God and Freedom from the Approval Game.

Jesus said, "Don't do your good deeds publicly so that you will be admired, because then you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven . . .  But 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. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." Matthew 6:1, 3-4.

When we do things so that people will notice us, we may get noticed, but we will receive no reward from God (since that was not what we were after).

The discipline of secrecy cuts to the heart of why we do the things we do. Do we serve others so that we will be admired for our selflessness? Now, it cannot be helped; when we do good deeds, they will most likely be noticed. The question, however, is not with the results. The question is with our motivation. Do we do the things we do in order that we will be admired, respected, applauded? Are we caught up in the approval game?

How do you know if you are caught up in the approval game?

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do I ever feel disappointed when nobody notices my efforts/work?
• Do I ever get upset when someone else gets the credit for my idea/work?
• Do I ever find myself doing something so someone will think I am smart/better?
• Do I ever sulk when my past achievements are forgotten or ignored?
• Do I ever get upset when no one says, "Thank you?"

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, but answers to these questions reveal how deeply we all desire admiration, praise, and respect. We all want people to tell us we are "worthy." We want to know that we have immeasurable value in their opinion.

Where does this desire come from? It comes from our insecurity about what makes us valuable as people.

What a difference it would make if we accepted the truth that God loves us without respect for our accomplishments, degrees, or physical characteristics! That God loves us simply because we are HIS "dearly loved children." The discipline of secrecy puts us in a place where we can experience this truth.

In practicing secrecy, we find the security of knowing that our value does not lie in the conditional applause or admiration of people, but in the fact that God's love for us is unconditional.

In practicing secrecy, we may intentionally prevent our deeds from being known. However, it is not necessary. In other words, we should not lie or mislead people just to keep our deeds a secret. Even if our deeds are recognized, often often will be, the point is that we do not do them in order to be recognized. (Matthew 25:31-46) We are not practicing secrecy for the sake of secrecy, but to free us from the approval game-to free us into a life of security in God.

Secrecy frees us to love others freely, not just so they love us back. We love out of the infinite reserve of love we receive from God.

Secrecy frees us from conditional, tit-for-tat relationships. It frees us into a life of generosity and compassion.

Secrecy frees us to serve with true humility. Because we serve before the audience of One, we can, as Thomas à Kempis said, rise above the "praisings and blamings" of others. We accept any recognition with easy grace. A simple thank you, or you're welcome is enough. If we get no such recognition, we did not seek it in the first place, so we are not upset.

Some Practical Applications of Secrecy:

1. Go into your room, close the door behind you and pray.

2. Send an unsigned card expressing love and encouragement to a neighbor.

3. Make up a basket of goodies and drop it at someone's door.

4. Plan at least one random act of kindness per day.

 5. Go to the cloths line and put into some jean pocket Rs.100 without anyone noticing.

SACRIFICE: FINDING SECURITY IN GOD AND FREEDOM FROM MATERIAL INSECURITY

We practice sacrifice to give up our self-security and find security in God. Sacrifice is not the same as frugality. Remember that frugality is giving up things which are "extras," luxuries, and other indifferent things, and instead, investing our time, money, and energy in things that have eternal significance.

In the practice of sacrifice, however, we go farther. We "give until it hurts." The practice of sacrifice is giving up the security of meeting our own needs with our own resources. As Dallas Willard puts it, it is "a total abandonment to God, a stepping into the darkened abyss in the faith and hope that God will bear us up."

The practice of sacrifice places us well outside of our comfort zone, and into the desert where we must trust the resources of God.

Sacrifice does not mean we are to become irresponsible. We should not be delinquent on our debts so we can give to some "good cause."

Only those who sacrifice experience the amazing depths of God's ability to provide. Only when we are totally abandoned to God do we discover the full wealth of His resources.

Practicing sacrifice may mean giving up the security of a relationship. Jesus said, "Whoever loves his mother or father or brother or sister or anyone more than me is not worthy of me." God called Abraham to give up his son.

Sacrifice may involve giving up your time, sleep, shirt, coat, career - whatever of your own resources that you trust in rather than God.

When we sacrifice, we discover the freedom that comes in such a life of abandonment.

Examine your life. In which areas do you rely solely on your own resources? Would you be willing to risk cutting off that branch so you can discover "in strange, unaccountable ways" how God can provide?