You Get...

             “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. (Matthew 6:1)

 

          Why do you do what you do? I recently did something helpful to someone, and they didn’t know who did it. So they put a “Thank you” on Facebook. I wanted to say, “You’re welcome.” I finally just made a vague positive comment. But here I am writing about it to you. I tell myself it’s just so that I can give you an example of how hard it can be not to seek human approval, but let’s not pretend that I’m not basking in the glow of being able to provide a good example.

            As people, we are wired to seek approval, which includes human approval. Jesus isn’t saying that human approval is wrong. But He is saying that you “get what you pay for.” If your actions are focused on getting human approval, and you get it, we got what we wanted. Why should we be disappointed if we don’t get what we didn’t seek?

            In the same way, if we practice our righteousness in front of God to be seen by Him, what does it matter what people think? There are still places where this is an issue. You don’t speak in tongues? There’s something wrong with your salvation! You don’t raise your hands in worship? What’s wrong with you? How can you possibly worship without speaking in tongues or lifting your hands?

            And if it’s not speaking in tongues or lifting hands in worship within the church, people may disapprove of what God has called you to in some other way. But the key is this – if you seek His approval, their disapproval won’t matter as much. Our focus is the issue in this passage because our focus identifies our true god, whether other people or God.