Thoughts from this week’s study:
“Be careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1)
Think of the person who sweeps into a meeting announcing, “Sorry I’m late; I was counseling someone with a marital crisis,” rather than quietly slipping into her seat. Or the guy who complains that he hasn’t slept in for three weekends because he’s spent his Saturdays working at the homeless shelter. We must have the humility never to use anyone else’s need as a “workshop,” as Eugene Peterson puts it, “to cobble together makeshift, messianic work that inflates our importance and indispensability.” (pgs49-50)
I know I have been guilty of this even though I didn’t realize what I was doing at the time. I was showing people how great, kind, spiritual, blah, blah, blah, I am. What was my motivation for making announcements such as the quote above mentions? Unfortunately, it was for recognition.
…someone else might take credit for what we’ve done. It takes a lot of maturity to stand by and watch while someone accepts applause he or she doesn’t deserve. It’s one thing for nobody to receive praise; it’s much harder when the wrong person grabs the limelight.
When these things happen, it’s helpful to know that one of God’s names is El Roi.(pg50)
…”El Roi” –the God who sees. (pg51)
So we have a choice. We can take our payback now in the form of other’s fleeting praise, or we can delay gratification for a day when our treasures laid up in heaven will pay eternal dividends from the hand of a benevolent multi-zillionaire Father. (pg51)
Not being recognized for your work is hard. I remember basically living at the church running the children’s program and most of what I did went unrecognized. It’s hard when you pour your life into a ministry only to have it dismissed as nothing. One thing I would remind myself is that I’m doing this for God, the children, and the children’s parents. That alone kept me going during the times I wanted to quit.
“Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who see in secret, will reward you. When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:5-8)
This one is both difficult and easy for me. Difficult because I don’t like praying in front of others because I’m not as eloquent as they are. I feel like I don’t measure up. It’s easy for me because most of my praying is done in my head or I write it in a journal therefore it’s secret. Also, when I pray I get straight to the point. I don’t mess around with my words because God knows what I’m thinking anyway and he’ll know whether I’m trying to impress others or not.
“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13)
This is not to suggest God leads people into temptation. (James 1:13 says God does not tempt anyone.) The phrase is a rhetorical way of asking for victory over sin. (pg58)
I loved the explanation of that verse because it has bothered me for years. This makes sense and gives me something to think about as I decide whether that’s what the verse is talking about or not.
Matthew 6:16-18 talks about fasting. The following quote jumped out at me as it coincides with some things our family has been discussing lately.
“Fasting is the act of temporarily giving up something that is very important to us in order that we may use the time normally given to that thing for prayer and reflection upon the pain of the temporary ’sacrifice’ to better understand the mystery and meaning of Christ’s passion and sacrifice for us….We pray for those who are hungry every day, for those who never know the privilege of a fast because they are forced to starve.” (pg60) (emphasis mine)
What jumped out at me was that their are many people who are starving and are not able to fast. Lately my kiddos have been complaining about the food we give them so my husband decided to implement an idea he got from Whittaker Woman’s blog.
“For if you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15)
All I had really sacrificed to forgive was releasing my pride, letting go of a grudge, and singing on stage when I didn’t feel like it. Big whoop. What had Jesus done to show He forgave? He spent thirty-some years minus the adoration of angels, and He endured mocking, spitting, nakedness, whipping, and nails in His hands and feet. And as if that weren’t enough, He endured the wrath of His Father–the one whose fellowship He had enjoyed since eternity past. I was the one who really deserved that wrath for falling so far short of His standard of holiness. (pg62)
No wonder it offends God when we refuse to forgive. Nothing anyone does to us is worhty of being compared to what we’ve done to Him. If He can forgive us to the point of death, why can’t we forgive when it costs us so much less? (pg62)
Enough said. What are your thoughts?
Welcome to the final installment of the Mocha on the Mount bible study.
