November 13, 2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1.27)

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6.5-6)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Imagine growing up in a world that says you cannot share your faith because you are nothing to the world nor in the world. Jesus said that those who inflict the poor, the lame, the deaf, the mute, the blind, the leper, the tax collector, the prostitute, the foreigner or those who do not wear the same clothes as they nor attend the same functions as they or associate with the same people as they are “hypocrites.”

As we read these two verses on the attitude of prayer which Jesus presented to all those seated on the mountainside, we must hear the bane and the blessing of those who draw lines in order to keep people out. We, as Christ followers must commit ourselves to understanding all of God’s mercy and grace falls on the just and the unjust. That means, each and every person on the face of the earth past, present and future are unworthy and worthy at the same time. It isn’t up to us to decide who is in and out. It is up to us to put forward, as Jesus did, what it means to live in the humility of righteousness and in the greatness of grace. We do so by our word and our deeds. We must embrace the truth of Jesus’ teaching which is for all people. That truth is that if our “word” is of God and claiming God as its author and giver, then show should our works (or deeds) be. If someone asks us because we speak about Jesus as if the gospel that is for us is in us and then through us into all the world “Who gives you such authority”, what should we say? Should we not declare that it is the Word of God made flesh in Jesus the Christ and empowered with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Should we not say that it is the Word intended for our good so that we shall be redeemed from the eternal death which is to live in Hell as a dying remnant? Should we not declare that is the Word of reconciliation and holistic healing sent down from Heaven to provide for a “world” that is hungering and thirsting for “the way, the truth and the life”?

And if we say that, then shouldn’t we be as powerful in our deeds so that they declare the same. Should we not live so as to bring the world round to asking, neigh begging, by whose authority do you do these things? It is not for our good that we say and do what belongs to the kingdom of which Jesus is Lord of lords, King of kings, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father and whose shoulders bear the weight of the governance of the world in which we live. It is for the glory of God that blind men shall not only see but see themselves being seen. It is for the glory of God that deaf men shall not only hear but hear themselves as they are heard. It is by our own words and deeds that we shall be judged. Therefore, let us be judged by the honesty, integrity and humility that it is not us but Christ in us that we are saved and empowered to make His will, the will of His Father, known.

To the hypocrites, Jesus professes that they sought to be seen and heard and they are. That is the object of their existence and the reward. But, for those who sought and seek to live authentically, their reward comes from God alone. It is not by their efforts nor intentions among those in the world to gain reward. It is not for their glory and applause but God alone. So, Jesus urges those who seek to be His disciples to practice first with prayer as speaking to God face to face. Once finding that cadence and authenticity of relational faith, then praying in public for the needs of others will sound familiar and bold and powerful. They may not be promoted, applauded or rewarded by those in the world (inside or outside the community of faith) but that is not their purpose. Their purpose is to bring all attention to Jesus Christ through whom all blessings flow and by whom we have “the way, the truth and the life.”

Let’s consider the hypocrisy of the world and fill those “secret places” with the power of God’s glory which will drive the darkness of doubt away and bring to light the only option for healing and restoration, order and peace.

PRAYER IN LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD:

Father, You have revealed to us best in Jesus the Christ. By Him and Him alone shall we gain the eternal life and our place in eternal rest, living for You always. Show us more and by Your Holy Spirit instruct us in the way we should go, the truth we should reveal and the life we shall live with you forever. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.