This week’s reading: Matthew 6:1-24
Hi Friends,
As we said last week, the heart of the matter is always a matter of the heart. Let’s talk a bit more about that as it refers to our reading for the week, which is Matthew chapter 6, verse 1 through 24. Hear this godly wisdom:
“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Mt 6:20-21 NIV
This world or heaven. Where do our hearts still center around after we become born again? This is a vital question each member of God’s Church, as well as the Church in whole, should be asking ourselves daily. If we are still focused on this world, living “our” lives as if life is still all about MMI, then we are sadly missing the entire point to Salvation. Our treasures are not our homes, cars, jobs, bank accounts and so on. Those are blessings God grants us so we may enjoy this life more, but they are not what we should be living our lives for. Jesus, and Jesus alone, is our treasure. As a matter of fact, the way we can enjoy things like the blessings I mentioned above is when we use them all for His glory. For instance, if we are blessed with a car, we can use it to help others perhaps go to a doctor’s appointment, or deliver a meal to a healing friend, or go visit an elderly parent or…or countless other things we can use it towards. These activities call us to be inconvenienced, to step out of our comfort zone and to actually do what we were created to do, love God by loving others. This reflects the heart of Jesus Who went around doing good (Ac 10:38) and if we are truly eternally changed, then this is the life we should be seeking as well. Our treasure is Jesus and since He has already ascended to Heaven, so the more we do here to display His Love and Goodness pointing us and others to there, to Heaven, to our eternal life. This is how we go about “storing up for ourselves treasures in Heaven.” We do whatever it is we do to point to the treasure of our heart, Jesus. And do we see how incredibly generous our God is? When we do good works, we are only doing what we should be doing (Lk 17:10), but God plans to reward us in Heaven on top of it all! (1Co 3:8) Part of the way we store up these treasures is by staying humble and not doing any good works for show…it is a matter of our hearts. Are we choosing to display the heart of Jesus?
Giving. Whenever we do anything good, we should never do it to be SEEN by others. We are not in this world to impress other humans, but to glorify God and draw others to Him. It is not about MMI anymore! This is the major difference between life before Christ and the born again Life after. So when we give, we should never give in ways that others will know what we gave. Giving is an act of gratitude towards God and should remain between each person and God. We do not give to receive accolades, so that others can SEE what an incredibly generous person we are. We are never to live a life “to be honored by men.” We give because God gave His greatest and most powerful gift, Jesus as our Savior and Lord. Out of a grateful heart towards God, we give. After all, what do we have that has not been given to us by God in the first place? All of our talents are gifts from God. This includes our intellect and abilities, which are the means through which we are able to acquire things like clothes, cars, homes, and so on. As we begin to really understand we only have because we have been given it all by our Gracious God, then giving will no longer be a struggle for us. We will naturally give and we will give in secret. At the heart of the matter will be the righteous matter of our heart.
Praying. This too should be done in secret. Prayer is not an opportunity to perform in front of others. Prayer is an intimate conversation we are having with God…this includes when we pray in public. We must ask ourselves: are we speaking with God when we pray in the hearing of others OR are we trying to impress the listeners with our own holiness? When we pray, whether with others or in our quiet time with God, we must connect with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to lead our words. If we are open this way, He will bring topics into our heart, as we simply speak the words He leads us to say. But in this reading Jesus is contrasting the “hypocrites” as He calls them, with what we children of God should be doing. Those hypocrites only want to point to themselves, but again, we are supposed to be leading others to God, not MMI. The more we let go of ourselves and seek to magnify God instead, the less self-conscious we will be so we can pray, and pray powerfully. At the heart of the matter will be the righteous matter of our heart.
Fasting. Here is an often not followed Biblical practice, or at least not followed correctly. In this time of Lent, have we given up something for our own benefit or to truly glorify God? Do we use the time saved by not doing that something to unite with God? You see, fasting, or going without something for a while, is meant to empty a space in us that we can invest in our growing relationship with God. Many people will give up sweets, for instance, but how does this unite you closer to God? Or worse, do we go about telling others about our great “sacrifice”? Again, we are not to tell others about what we are doing because it should be only between each of us and God. But if you do want to encourage others to fast also, then do not do it in a way that makes you a martyr. When we fast, or do anything else godly, it is to reflect God’s goodness, not our own. When we fast, we should fast in a way that does not elevate ourselves. At the heart of the matter will be the righteous matter of our heart.
In secret. My Friends, three times in our reading for this week, Jesus tells us, “your Father, who sees what is done is secret, will reward you.” One of the reasons God calls us to give and to pray and fast is to break the strong power of Pride over our lives. There is something in us that wants to tell others what we are doing, or not doing as the case may be, so that they will be impressed by us. But as Christians, we are no longer supposed to live our lives trying to point to MMI! We are to do everything to draw others to Christ. So when we give, pray or fast, let’s do it all in such a way that God, and God alone, gets all the glory. For instance, if you are trying to encourage others to give, make sure you say something like, “Only by God’s Grace, am I able to give. He is such a generous Father!” This way the focus is off of MMI and what we did or did not do, and it is rightly on the God Who empowers us to do whatever it is we are doing. See? Once again, at the heart of the matter will be the righteous matter of our heart.
The Lord’s Prayer. I would be remiss if I did not just mention that we are introduced to this amazing prayer from Jesus in verses 9 through 13 here. I did a whole video study on this great prayer, and so as not to repeat myself, I will simply put the links below. But I do want to say that this prayer is both powerful and complete. If you struggle with your prayer life, won’t you start here with this one? But don’t only say the words. Think about what you are saying. Then as you understand what Jesus means more and more, pray it with all your heart to the Father who loves you with all His heart!
We are followers. One more thing before we go, we must understand that God and this world are completely opposites. The Christian life is to be centered on humility, while this earthly life is focused all on Pride, MMI. This means we cannot follow this world AND God at the same time. As Jesus says, either we will love God and follow His ways, OR we will follow this world and its ways. As I said a moment ago, we are followers, so we will choose to follow one or the other. Of course, we were created to follow God, but all of humanity has lost its way. Ahhhh but God! My Friends, God knew what would happen and so He has made The Way for us to be restored. For us to be able to choose to follow Him instead of the world. The Bible says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”(Isa 53:6) Because The Father so loves us, He sent Jesus to do what we could not, to pay our sin debt in full. With every thought we think, every emotion we feel, ever desire we want, we must learn to stop and ask ourselves, “Will this choice lead me to following God OR this world?” Then by God’s Grace, leaning on His Love, we can learn to make the righteous choice more and more. This certainly continues to be the story of my spiritual journey with Christ. And the more I choose Him over MMI, the more I reap the benefits of the Abundant Life. Want that too? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
