“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.” – Matthew 6:5

Notes:

I read a bumper sticker recently that said “God wants fruitful christians, not religious nuts!”  How true this is.  One of the greatest teaching principles that Jesus constantly emphasized was the importance of living to give God glory, and not ourselves.  Jesus called a certain religious group named the Pharisee’s, “whitewashed tombs”, which were clean on the outside by their deeds, but on the inside in their hearts they were full of dead men’s bones.   Jesus is not concerned with outward piety or the appearance of being religious, but with the condition of your heart.  This is the difference between religion and relationship.  

A religious spirit is concerned about the thoughts and the approval from men, and will often times appear righteous and godly in the sight of others. But a heart that walks in a genuine relationship with God seeks His glory, and is concerned about approval from Him alone, and as a result, will be righteous even when no one is around.  In other words, the majority of their prayer life will be in secret, their giving will be in secret, etc.  God’s churches are full of religious people who put on smiles and play church and dress up on Sunday’s, but on Monday through Saturday are no different than the world.  They speak no differently, they act no differently, and the transforming grace that Christ truly offers is not evident.  This is what confuses the lost so much about christianity, and as a result, it brings a false testimony against our Lord and King.  God dearly loves His children, and He seeks for that same love to be reciprocated back toward Him, and toward others.       

Willing to Take the Challenge?

A paradigm shift must occur in order for a religion to transform into a relationship.  First, we must begin to think less of ‘self’, and more of Him who has saved us and raised us to life.  We must be willing to deny ourselves from any self-glorification or praise from men, take up our cross, and walk as Jesus walked while He was upon the earth. Next, we are taught by the Lord to love God, and love others the way that Jesus loved us.  The Sermon on the Mount is great place to start, which can be summed up in this one great truth: We must be about God’s eternal Kingdom, not our own temporal ones.  I love you all, and pray that God would richly bless you this weekend as you shine as lights in this darkened world, holding fast the Word of life.