Drawn to the Gospel

I once heard of a church leader who berated one of their volunteers for not giving their personal post a ‘like’—unlike everyone else in church! 

We live in a world that is big on being noticed, the currency today seems to be likes, followers, and recognition. That’s not too different from Jesus’s day. People in His day were big on being noticed as well, especially being noticed as being religious and pious.

In Matthew 6, Jesus highlights three areas where this is often at play: giving alms, praying, and fasting. He reminds us to pay attention to the reason we do them: are we doing it for human applause or God’s approval? Are we living for our little kingdom or His great kingdom?

Some symptoms of seeking human applause are:

• We focus our attention on changing our conduct more than our character

• We believe what others say about us over what God’s says

• We tend to overreact to our flaws and weaknesses

• We tend to underreact to God’s call to holiness and costly discipleship

Jesus warns us:

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Mat 6:1)

I believe outward expressions of our faith such as prayer, worship, work, are an important part of our lives. But they must flow from our relationship with God the Father. To pray for God’s kingdom to come means to pray for our kingdom to go.

Reflection: How can I express my faith this week in a way that is seen only by my heavenly Father?

This devotion is sent weekly to staff during school terms. It has been lightly edited for a general audience.