<p>6:3&nbsp;<em>But when you do alms</em>- The Lord Jesus was addressing the very poorest in society. And yet He assumed they would do some good and show some generosity to others. We can too easily dismiss Bible teaching about generosity and assume it applies to the rich, or at least, not to me. Yet the Lord's implication is that every single person can give and be generous in some way. The Lord speaks here of &quot;<em>when</em>&quot; you give, rather than&nbsp;<em>if</em>&nbsp;you give. He took giving to others in need as being a basic, intrinsic part of life in Him.</p>
<p><em>Do not let your left hand know what your right hand does-&nbsp;</em>There had developed a strong Jewish tradition that the right hand side of a man was his spiritual side, and the left hand side was the equivalent of the New Testament 'devil'. The Lord Jesus referred to this understanding when He warned: &quot;Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth&quot; (Mt. 6:3)- implying that the good deeds of the spiritual man would be misused by the 'devil', e.g. in using them as grounds for spiritual pride.</p>
<p>The idea perhaps is that our good deeds should not be done consciously, we hardly know ourselves that we are doing them. The Lord taught just the same when He portrayed the faithful at the last day almost arguing back with their Lord before His judgement seat, totally denying they had done the good deeds which He was now rewarding them for (&quot;when did we see You...&quot;, Mt. 25:39).</p>