Secret
Read Matthew 6:1-18.
There is a thread that brings giving, prayer and fasting together in these few verses, and that thread is this: "Keep it a secret!" Over and over again in this passage, Jesus calls, exhorts, challenges, commands: "Keep it a secret!" When you're giving, don't even let your right hand know what your left hand is doing (how is that possible?). When you're praying, go into a closet and talk only to your Father who is in heaven (what would Jesus say about our emphasis on "praying out loud" as a sign of spiritual maturity?). When you're fasting, go ahead and act normal so that no one knows you're fasting. And for heaven's sake—don't announce that you're doing any of these things!
Why? Why are these things to be kept a secret? It's because Jesus knows what we're like, and the moment we start getting attention for something, it becomes a "badge of honor." Like when we were children and we would do something that would garner a laugh or two from the adults...that's what we would do again. Adults laugh when we drop Cheerios on the floor? They'll laugh even more when we throw mashed potatoes on the floor, right? (Or not.) We crave attention.
So if someone compliments us on our giving, or on our prayer life, or on the dedication we show by fasting, then we'll begin to do it for the attention we receive and not because it connects us to our Father. In fact, Jesus says that whatever we do for public acclaim will not be rewarded in eternity. The public acclaim is the only reward we will get (which makes the very public act of preaching a dangerous thing to do and a difficult balance to hold onto).
It's a matter of the heart. Why do you give? Why do you pray? Why do you fast? Is it a matter of connecting my heart to God? Or is it to fulfill what someone else thinks we should do to be "really spiritual"? Or is it to be noticed by someone else? Only the first attitude will be blessed, Jesus says. Keep your practices a secret. Do them for an audience of one. That is the path to the blessed life.
There is a thread that brings giving, prayer and fasting together in these few verses, and that thread is this: "Keep it a secret!" Over and over again in this passage, Jesus calls, exhorts, challenges, commands: "Keep it a secret!" When you're giving, don't even let your right hand know what your left hand is doing (how is that possible?). When you're praying, go into a closet and talk only to your Father who is in heaven (what would Jesus say about our emphasis on "praying out loud" as a sign of spiritual maturity?). When you're fasting, go ahead and act normal so that no one knows you're fasting. And for heaven's sake—don't announce that you're doing any of these things!
Why? Why are these things to be kept a secret? It's because Jesus knows what we're like, and the moment we start getting attention for something, it becomes a "badge of honor." Like when we were children and we would do something that would garner a laugh or two from the adults...that's what we would do again. Adults laugh when we drop Cheerios on the floor? They'll laugh even more when we throw mashed potatoes on the floor, right? (Or not.) We crave attention.
So if someone compliments us on our giving, or on our prayer life, or on the dedication we show by fasting, then we'll begin to do it for the attention we receive and not because it connects us to our Father. In fact, Jesus says that whatever we do for public acclaim will not be rewarded in eternity. The public acclaim is the only reward we will get (which makes the very public act of preaching a dangerous thing to do and a difficult balance to hold onto).
It's a matter of the heart. Why do you give? Why do you pray? Why do you fast? Is it a matter of connecting my heart to God? Or is it to fulfill what someone else thinks we should do to be "really spiritual"? Or is it to be noticed by someone else? Only the first attitude will be blessed, Jesus says. Keep your practices a secret. Do them for an audience of one. That is the path to the blessed life.
Comments
Post a Comment