It is not often that you’ll keep secrets in order to do good works. Most of the time, secrets keep evil from being exposed.

“John, you jerk!!! What about surprise birthday parties?!! What about anonymous donations to charities??!!! What about giving so the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing?!!! THAT’S SCRIPTURE, YOU POMPOUS JERK!!!!”

If every one of your secrets is connected to a surprise party or unpublicized act of altruism, I’m not talking to you. Righteousness should be done in secret so that only God knows about it. Good job! Keep it up!

But if you’re holding closed meetings to discuss people behind their backs, or putting passwords on accounts that nobody else knows, or frequently using the phrase, “It’s none of your business,” or asking others not to share the details of conversations, or just generally concerned that your life be ‘private,’…I’ll say again, you’re most likely up to no good.

Scripture teaches us to do good deeds in secret because that’s the opposite of what we want to do. We want everybody to know about our generosity, compassion, and thoughtfulness. We’re eager to signal our virtue. When we’re doing good, secrecy is a burden.

At the same time, we instinctively know that evil needs to be kept hidden. We know that the more people know about us, the worse we’re going to look. If anyone dares ask us to explain ourselves, we indignantly tell them, “Don’t judge!”

Before you start shouting at me again, here’s a word of caution. Defensiveness always makes you look guilty. Evil doers are quick to take offense. If you are offended by the criticism of secrecy, that’s suspicious.

(Psalm 64:5) They encourage each other in evil plans, they talk about hiding their snares; they say, “Who will see them?” They plot injustice and say, “We have devised a perfect plan!” Surely the mind and heart of man are cunning.