Secret Love

Have you ever noticed that God places a premium on secret acts of love? The Lord emphasized praying in secret (Matthew 6:6); giving without fanfare (Matthew 6:4); helping with no thought of return (Luke 6:35). All these things done discretely with no marketing of our sacrifices, the left hand not knowing what good deed is being done by the right. And the reason for this, I believe, is that the purest form of love is the kind that only God sees. That act of kindness or self-sacrifice that may affect another, but is witnessed only by God. In other words, He's the only one who really knows the price that love has cost you.

Even though this may be a subtle form of Christian devotion, there are several ways that one can offer secret love. For example, praying for your enemies and those who dismiss or despise you... only God will know that you are offering your hurt up in supplication for their good. And making acts of quiet kindness by letting someone else have the better share of credit for some success, or that last piece of fried chicken, or the greatest sacrifice of all-control of the T.V. remote. God silently delights in our quiet devotion to Him and will one day reward openly even the smallest of gestures done in secret love. (Matthew 10:42).