Thursday, February 22, 2007

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 (The Message)
The World Is Not a Stage
1 "Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding.
2-4"When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself. You've seen them in action, I'm sure—'playactors' I call them— treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that's all they get. When you help someone out, don't think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.
Pray with Simplicity
5"And when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?
6"Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.
16-18"When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don't make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won't make you a saint. If you 'go into training' inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. God doesn't require attention-getting devices. He won't overlook what you are doing; he'll reward you well.
A Life of God-Worship
19-21"Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

These words are Jesus’ teaching in what we know as the Sermon on the Mount. He is telling us how we ought to give to others, pray, and fast (an appetite-denying discipline). We do not engage in any of these activities in order to brag on ourselves. We have heard people act that way though.
“Well, I’m already giving so much to the offering plate, but I added extra last week, isn’t that a blessing?”
“Dear heavenly, hallowed, Father, thank you for gracing me with such an extensive and developed vocabulary so that I can pray to you with enormous words and complex sentences regular people do not understand.”
“Well, I decided to give up drinking coffee for Lent this year, and this morning as I passed Starbucks I just had to congratulate myself for driving right on by. I am doing a good job if I say so myself.”
When we give so others can see us, or pray so others can hear us, or fast so others can admire us, we miss the point. Other people are not our audience. God is. We give to others because it is really God giving quietly through us. We pray honestly to God who hears us and is not impressed by our vocabulary or speaking skills but cares about our hearts. We fast to focus more on God, not to focus on ourselves and our abilities to sacrifice.

Gracious God, thank you for giving us ways to seek you and focus on you. Taking care of other people and being able to talk to you are gifts we often take for granted. Forgive us for not seeking you with our whole hearts. Forgive us for being actors and using these gifts to draw attention to ourselves instead of drawing attention to you. Teach us to give, to pray, and to fast honestly, sincerely. May others see You when they look at us. Amen.