The Audience

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"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them..." (Lk. 6: 1-6, ESV)

   In these short six verses, Jesus outlines three areas of spiritual life: righteousness, giving, and praying. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of spiritual qualities. These were chosen by our LORD to teach a very important lesson in Christian living. What lesson is this? Knowing who your audience is. Notice how Jesus addresses each aspect. The issue is not the acts themselves. I doubt many people would argue that these are unimportant or irrelevant aspects of serving God. Righteousness should be an important (and growing) part of any Christian's life. Giving is the same, and so is prayer. Each of these qualities should be present and increasing in our lives. In addition, these things should certainly be seen by those around us. If we truly are the people of God, then these qualities should be evident to those around us. The problem is when we practice these qualities to be seen by men. Jesus said, very plainly, that those who do such "have their reward." In other words, if you live righteously, give generously, and pray fervently just so others will notice, then you have your full reward. There is no eternal spiritual value to those actions when they are for show. Jesus told the hearers to give and pray in such a way that God Himself is the only one who really knows and sees what you are doing.  He knows our actions, thoughts, and motives, and He will reward accordingly. Live your life as if God was the only one seated in the audience.



*image courtesy of https://pixabay.com/p-828584/?no_redirect

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