Secrecy... A Virtue?

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven. Thus when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be prasied by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 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. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

Anyone who knew me well in college would state that I was a "broadcaster." Not just in the sense that I was quick to talk about what I was doing in ministry (though that was one sense). I told anything and everything to anybody who would listen. I say all this now with a little perspective and quite a dose of embarrassment. This verse confronts my "broadcaster" tendency in so many ways and so many practically applicable ways.
You see there is a heart issue that is very much in play when someone battles with the struggle that I had. The biggest struggler for fellow "broadcasters" is that we deisre the praise of men. Ultimately this comes from a heart that fears man more than it fears God. It feeds off the acknowledgment of others. Notice that it is the hyprocites who sound the trumpet so that they "may be praised by others." Those who broadcast suffer from a heart sin known as the fear of the man. I know this because that is one of my struggles. Behind the deisre to broadcast righteousness is a deisre to have man's approval above God's. But this type of broadcasting can take other forms. You can broadcast about having something or achieving a certain reward or dating somebody. But the root behind all broadcasting, be it a broadcasting of righteousness or something else, is a desire to have man's approval over God's.
I've continued reading throught The Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer and he wrote a truly excellent chapter on these passages. Bonhoeffer notes that in order to live out these passages, even as we minister, we must never take our eyes off Christ and look around at all the roles that God has placed us in and say, "Wow, look what I am doing. Look at how many people I am impacting." Bonhoeffer writes, "Our task is simply to keep on following, looking only to our Leader who goes on before, taking no notice of ourselves or of what we are doing. We must be unaware of our own righteousness, and see it only in so far as we look unto Jesus; then it will seem not extraordinary, but quite ordinary and natural. Thus we hide the visible from ourselves in obedience to the word of Jesus." We are at no point called to look unto ourselves but to simply continue looking toward the Savior. Focusing our eyes on Christ will help our hearts to assess that which is truly valuable and that which is not. This is in fact one of the most effective way s to make "broadcasting" disappear. Focusing on the savior and his words in scripture will enable to disregard what others think of us. It will enable us to focus on God and God alone. For as a Christian, it is his approval that we seek.
What does this look like practically... It would be easy to write down a do and don't list but if it is just behavior modification, then genuine heart change has been made. That is why I can't help but emphasize what Bonhoeffer has said. A vision, fixed on Christ will go a long way to curing our fear of man. He will become our treaseure and ultimately the only one that we seek approval from.
At the same time, I would be self deluded if I didn't think some practical suggestions would be helpful. One way to start if you are a "broadcaster" is if a ministry opportunity comes up or anything comes up that you think would achieve the commendation of man, slow down the announcement to people. I have found this to be very helpful. If you have are the person who tells right away, be secretive for awhile. Maybe the first time, you are silent for a week, the next time two and from there it continues to grow. There is something to be said for the man/woman who is secretive. And I'm not talking about a deceptive secrecy. I am talking about the sense in which one performs righteous acts or is given gracious gifts by God they thank him and him alone for these, thus diminishing the need to tell others. It is good to make a practice of not mentioning self before others.
Further on this note... To those who are my age and unmarried (man or woman). Beware of discolure to the opposite sex (married or not). Don't get speaking about yourself, ministry opportunities or issues in your life to others of the opposite sex (beyond appropriate levels). God is the one whom we unburden too; along with select confidants within our own sex. Keep relationships with all those who are not your spouse at arm's distance, no matter how good the "friendship" may be. A particularly problematic issue is when Godly men use the broadcasting of their ministry opportunities to attempt to attract a single woman. This happens and it happens to very Godly men (I know many a Godly man who can vouch for this struggle). If this begins to happen, we begin to use God and Godliness for personal gain rather than for gaining God himself. If we keep our mouths silent and are secretive before the Lord, this temptation should arise less frequently.
In a society that encourages self promotion, that prompts us to broadcast our feelings and thoughts so that we can be "real," the scriptures teach quite to the contrary. The scriptures in fact teach, that secrecy is an incredible virtue.