On the campus of Pensacola Christian College my sophomore year they built a new dining hall and called it "The Four Winds". It was gorgeous; high ceiling, bright colors, large portions of class that shown the bright Florida sunshine and let us look out to the palm trees and landscape of the campus. In it there were several food lines that were categorized by ethic tastes or preferences. it was magnificent. But, then there was the carpet. No, it wasn't really ugly but it was bright and reminded me of the big casinos you see in a movie, but it could do amazing things! I fell prey to the carpet many times and you could humorously watch other be victimized by it as well! The carpet would reach up and trip you when you weren't suspecting it! I can remember more than one occasion seeing people drop a tray full of food because the carpet tripped them. Now, there were to magic powers bestowed to the carpet, but it happened over and over. For some reason the knap and weave of the carpet could make a completely competent person stumble. As silly as it sounds to say that the carpet actually tripped people, there is something else just as silly... we often trip ourselves. We want to move forward but we become the very thing that holds us back.
In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus is talking in the Sermon on the Mount and repeats the same phrase or idea over and over again. That phrase: "...and you Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly" (verse 4, 6, 18, and 33 (the idea of 33)). Jesus is stating that God the Father is wanting you to be a blessed person. God wants people to look at you and say, "I wish I could be like them." Face it, we all have idols; maybe not in worship but in admiration. We have role models in finance, in family, in dress, in speech, etc... and this is good. There is nothing wrong with having people that we look up to. Jesus is saying that God wants to bless you, and to bless you OPENLY. Why openly? Because he wants people to see what a dedicated life to Christ brings. God is holding a handful of blessings to give to you but there are conditions.
This chapter tells us that God is waiting to bless us so all can see that we are blessed, but we are not the ones to make our blessings known... that is to be God's job.
This chapter reveals 4 areas that we must keep ourselves in check and all 4 of those areas come to the root of our motives; more specifically our prideful and selfish motives. When we are able to suppress ourselves in these areas God is adorn us with blessings for the world to see as a testimony of what he has done for us.
Area 1. Verses 1-4 deal with our charity toward other people... our "good works". No, not for salvation, but cause of salvation. It paints the picture doing things for the sake of helping in the name of Christ, not so you can be pointed out. Remember, it is your job to do the work and God's job to do the pointing out. Recently I was at a funeral dinner where there was a sweet old lady who had made many dishes to share. However, standing beside her she fed you a running commentary of what she had brought and how many people had taken it. She boasted of how good of a cook she was and how her items must be superior to other's. I couldn't help but think that the only reward she received was her own pat on the back when God could have been ready and willing to bless her with anything from a good nights sleep to a check in the mail. On the flip side. Last year our church was in need of an air conditioner unit which would rest in the range of $1,300. After mentioning this (not even asking for money) a visiting guest came up to me after ward and said, "God told me to give you this, but don't tell anyone where it came from." This person is not a church member and I have seen them only a handful of times since, but it is no wonder that God has blessing them in high levels of success because they follow this principle.
Area 2. Prayer. This passage holds the most quoted prayer of all time, The Lord's Prayer, but that is not what carries the main message of this section. Verses 4-15 speaks of the hypocrites that only pray if and when someone is watching, including making themselves a public spectacle to do so. They repeat the same thing over and over and make sure they use impressive words. This doesn't please God. If we want to impress God with our prayers we are told to keep it between him and us, then he will bless us publicly for it.
Area 3. Fasting. This is a practice that is done less and less since it deals with suppressing the physical so we can give more attention to the spiritual and that is not popular in a society that tells us that it is all about us and as long as we believe in ourselves things will be just fine. Matthew 17.21 Jesus tells the disciples that some things can't be done but by prayer AND fasting, he is specifically talking about casting out demons. In Matthew 6.16-19 we see that people are fasting, which is good, but they are making themselves look sick so that others know they are fasting. Again, it is all about us... or the person involved... so much for the "suppressing the physical" part. We are instructed to take an extra effort to make ourselves look strong during times of fasting including the use of make up if necessary. Verse 17 says to anoint your head and wash your face. This is not anointing like often we thing of anointing with oil; this is actually staining your skin with olive oil to give color and then washing off the excess so you look healthy. When we get this area in check and do it properly we will then know the blessing that God has for us and it will be a public example of what he has done.
Area 4. Wealth. From verse 19 to the end we are told all about our assests. We are told to invest into areas that will never pass away, not areas of earthly possessions and treasures that will someday rot and decay. We are not able to serve God and money, they are two areas that are constantly at war because they both want complete control of your time, money, and life. We must freely chose to follow God and let him supply our needs. It draw the comparison of a flower and King Solomon. A flower does nothing to look pretty, it just comes natural because God has designed it that way; King Solomon was the richest man ever and he worked hard to make sure he looked better and had more things than anyone, but he failed at it because he found out the hard way that he can't buy what God gives freely.
I am not saying all of this because I had an extra 15 minutes to write an article for the web, but because this is true. Get yourself in check and act out of the right motives and God will reward you openly. I have seen this over and over in my life. If you look at me I am an average person, but there are many areas that God has proven this. I am not perfect but God has blessed me openly in areas that I couldn't never achieve on my own and He gets all the credit, not me. I have a home that I shouldn't be able to afford, a wife and kids I don't deserve, a car I shouldn't be able to afford, a phone I could never afford, a tv I never dreamed of, peace that I sure don't create on my own, and a God that I can never repay. This in not bragging, this is just praising God for keeping his promise to reward us openly. God has a blessing for you today. Don't trip over yourself trying to get it on your own power.
