Matthew 6:5-7
When you pray, don't be like those show-offs who love to stand up and pray in the meeting places and on the street corners. They do this just to look good. I can assure you that they already have their reward.
When you pray, go into a room alone and close the door. Pray to your Father in private. He knows what is done in private, and he will reward you.
When you pray, don't talk on and on as people do who don't know God. They think God likes to hear long prayers.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Yesterday on my Facebook wall, I saw this quote by evangelist Joyce Meyer... “What you do in front of people is nothing if you are not living the same life at home behind closed doors.” She referenced Matthew 6:5-7 in this post. When I read this, I was working on a devotional about living with an authentic heart for God. This post showed up right on time!
As we think about our heart – the “hidden inner man” – let’s think about how we share our faith with others. Do we let ego get in the way? Do we feel we are only effective as Christians and disciples when we make a lot of noise and draw attention to ourselves or our cause? Do we think God loves us more when we are grandiose? Maybe this explains those who protest a funerals or outside clinics. It could be that those who want to scream and shout about this “Christian” cause or that one have bought into the concept that bigger and louder is better!
Do we speak kindly to everyone we meet in public, then go home and treat our family like dirt? Do we pretend to be something or someone we are not and try to “keep up with the Joneses” when in truth, we are physically, morally and spiritually bankrupt? The truth is that God cares about what is in our heart… how we truly feel… what we genuinely think about Him, and our honest needs and desires. He doesn’t care about trappings… grand gestures… big displays of devotion or service… or how long we pray a single prayer. He doesn’t want us to say and do all the right things in public and shed these behaviors like a giant mask when nobody is looking.
God wants real, sincere, heartfelt love and service. He wants us to operate completely from the depths of our heart and a desire to be completely His disciple… whether we are passing the collection plate in a worship service, visiting someone who is sick, working with someone we find difficult to love, offering up a prayer… or interacting with our own family behind closed doors.
We should strive to be genuine and operate from our heart every single day. If God wants us to shout from the rooftops, He will place that in our heart. If God wants you to be Mr./Miss Personality, He will gift you with a genuine exuberance. If He wants us to work in the background, we will sense that, as well. God will make it our heart’s desire to treat everyone with love, grace and mercy – even at home – if we listen and follow Him.
As long as we listen to our “hidden inner man,” we will glorify and honor God with our outward appearance and behavior. Have you checked your heart today?
©2012 Debbie Robus
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