The greatest sermon ever preached occurs in Matthew 5-7. Jesus preached a sermon that still breathes truths into the hearts of men and women today. He preached on every subject from murder to marriage to prayer and fasting. Yet hidden within these important topics is another truth – the secrecy of our actions. Three times in chapter 6 Jesus states, “and your Father who sees in secret will also reward you.”
We want our Christianity to be our identity and rightly so. We want people to know that we are not just committed but that our lives revolve around the Father. But in doing so we must remember to keep all of the commandments. When we pray, we are to pray in secret. When we fast, we should fast in secret. When we give we should not let our right hand know what our left hand is doing. However in a world of social media our actions become the topic of the day. Everyone knows what we are doing and why we are doing it. In all of our efforts to project the person we want to be, have we forgotten the person God created us to be? Do we practice our Christianity for others to see? Do we utter prayers for others to hear? Do we use our own righteousness to influence others and fail to point others to the love and grace of the Almighty?
As Christians our ultimate goal is to go to Heaven and not the praise and adoration of others. Jesus also said in Matthew 6 those who pray, fast and give for others to see have already received their reward, while those who do these things in secret shall be rewarded by the Father. Much like the Pharisees of old, many in the church today use their actions as a platform for attention and praise. Their own righteousness has become their ministry. And in turn the love and grace of God has ceased to be shown.
Let us challenge each other to be secret Christians – to pray fervently behind closed doors, to give without notice or expectation, to show Christ in our actions and not just with our mouths or our computer screens. For our Father who sees in secret will also reward in secret.
Christa Bryant