“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” Matthew 6:1 HCSB
Why do you live the Christian life? Do you live it for God or for People? Yes, we should live a Christian life in front of people so that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.
“In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16 HCSB
But we are not to live a Christian life in front of people just to be noticed by them. If we did we would probably only live the Christian life in front of them. Once we are out of the church we would resume our normal life of sin. We would be putting on a deception mask to please people.
The Christian life in more than going to church and saying the right churchy words. It is about God and his business. It is about His will not our own. We are to be servants of God doing His work till he comes to get us for a specific job or to take us to heaven. We don’t know when that is but we have to be ready all the time. None of our time is our own but it is all His.
“Who then is a faithful and sensible slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time? That slave whose master finds him working when he comes will be rewarded. I assure you: He will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that wicked slave says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’ and starts to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, that slave’s master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 24:45-51 HCSB
Jesus did not trust his earthly ministry to people. He, however, took three years to teach His disciples to do His spiritual ministry, to build His church.
“While He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many trusted in His name when they saw the signs He was doing. Jesus, however, would not entrust Himself to them, since He knew them all and because He did not need anyone to testify about man; for He, Himself knew what was in man.”
John 2:23-25 HCSB
Let us consider Jesus’ young words:
“Why were you searching for Me? ” He asked them. “Didn’t you know that I had to be in My Father’s house? ””
Luke 2:49 HCSB
He did not go to be recognized by the people, but to learn from them and to about His father’s business. It may have been church as usually for His parents, but for Jesus, it was a purposeful trip to church to learn about God.
Don’t go to church just to be seen, but go to find God.
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