Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...