THE LORD KNOWS
Matthew 6:1,Jesus instructs His disciples not to do things for people’s approval: “Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them.” When they give to the needy they should not announce it to anyone; as the hypocrites do. People who do these things and want everyone to know will receive their ‘reward’ but not from God. The Lord knows all and sees all.
When you pray, pray in secret for the Lord knows and that is all that matters: verse 5, “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 men.” Verse 6: “But when you pray go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father.” Many people pray to impress others and babble and babble. Jesus warns against this and gives the disciples a model or concept of prayer. Unfortunately many people today call this concept the Lord’s Prayer and pray those exact words over and over again. The words are wonderful and full of meaning but I believe Jesus told the disciples not to babble with the same words.
When you fast Jesus says, do so without making a big deal out of it and not to do it in such a way as to attract the attention of many. He says inverse 16, “When you fast do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting.” He also speaks against storing up treasures on this earth as they will rot and rust and be worthless. He encourages doing those things that will count in Heaven.
Jesus instructs them not to worry because worry does absolutely nothing. He compares them to the birds of the air and the lilies in the fields to show they are provided for by God and He will provide much more for His people, verse 25 says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.” Concerns about what one wears or eats or what tomorrow will be like should not be a priority in one’s life.
Jesus does such a wonderfully simple exhortation of what the life of a Christian should be by contrasting it with the unsaved people of the world, as to how they think and what motivates them. We could live a very peaceful existence if we followed His advice. Each day is a gift from God and we should live it to the fullest in the way Jesus is telling the disciples about life. John 10:10 says, I have come so they may live life to the full.” I do believe He has a formula for a wonderful life, a life, I believe He meant for us to live as He meant us too when we were created; let’s give it a try. What can it hurt if we do things for our Father in Heaven? This leads me to my final thought on this chapter which deals with the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ and its purpose, which I believe is to be a model for our thoughts in prayer, as I already mentioned, and in secret and with God alone. We must understand that God wants us to talk with Him and to fully appreciate this thought we need go no further than scripture itself. When Jesus prayed to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, what prayer did He recite? Why none of course, He simply spoke to Him. This is our example of prayer, talk to Him. As Jesus so aptly put it, “don’t babble” just talk to Him.
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