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Chapter 6 -- Do Not Strut or Worry
Jesus said, "Be careful not to do your kind acts in public to make a show, or there will be no reward for you from your Father in heaven. Do not toot your own horn for human praise. Hypocrites do that and they have all the praise they are going to get. Instead, do not even let one half of you know wht the other half is doing, so your kind acts can be secret. Then your Father who sees you in secret will reward you openly.
"Do not pray like the hypocrites, standing on the street corners for show. They have all the reward they will get. Instead, go into your closet, shut your door, and pray in secret, and your Father who sees you in secret will reward you openly.
"Do not pray with repeated repetitions, thinking you will be heard simply for the amount of time or words you spend praying. Your Father knows what you need even before you ask.
"So pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
May your name be praised.
May your kingdom come.
May your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us the bread we need for today.
Forgive us as we forgive others.
Lead us, not into temptation, but out of all evil.
This we ask because
Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.
Amen.
"If you forgive others, or if you do not forgive, in the same way will your Father forgive you or not forgive you.
"Do not fast like the hypocrites, making yourself sad and frowning for show. They have their reward. Instead, you are to smile and dress as usual so God alone can see that you are fasting. Your Father who sees you in secret will reward you openly.
"Do not keep many treasures here on earth where moths, rust, and thieves can spoil it. Instead, send your treasures on ahead to heaven where they will be safe. Wherever your treasure is, that's where your thoughts and affections will be.
"Light comes to you through you eye. If your eye is focused you are full of light. If your eye is clouded you are full of darkness. Yes, if whatever light you have is only darkness, how great is that darkness!
"No one can really straddle the fence. Sooner or later you will lean one way or the other. You cannot serve both God and earthly praise or treasure.
"That's why I tell you, Do not worry about what you will eat or drink to maintain you life, or about what you will wear on your body. Is not life about more than food, body image, and clothes?
"Look at the birds. They never plant, pick, or store in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? And can you grow even one inch by worrying?
"Look at the flowers growing in the field. They never sew or spin, yet even Solomon in kingly splendor was not clothed so beautifully as one of these. So if God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and gone tomorrow, will not God much more clothe you? Why then have so little faith?
"Therefore do not worry about food or drink or clothing like those who do not know God. Your heavenly Father knows you need these things. Instead, seek first of all the kingdom of God and relationship with God. Then all these things will be added to you.
"So do not worry about tomorrow. Let tomorrow happen as it will. Do not borrow evil from tomorrow for today."
Moving on from how to relate to the law, as in the previous chapter, over to how to relate to the LORD. What I continued to hear was extremely odd and out of the box compared to the shows of piety that usually demanded my attention. This new kingdom commandeered my attention in a different way.
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