Mathew 6:16-18
“Now whenever you fast, do not make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they distort their faces so that they will be noticed by people when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But as for you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be noticed by people but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
Fasting can be important, but I want to speak about the other lesson Jesus is teaching. That is trying to impress others. We aren’t to do it, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. A lesson that is taught else where is not to worry about what others think of us. That is true. We do want to be a good representative of the Lord. Outside of that we shouldn’t put much effort into what others think of us.
Jesus speaks of doing admirable things like fasting. That is good and it should be done. As well as other spiritual practices. He is saying that we shouldn’t be doing those things to impress others. We should be doing it for God and His kingdom.
Our efforts for the kingdom shouldn’t be for self promotion. Earlier in this same chapter He says this about giving, “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”, (v.4). I love the silly illustration. Of course the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. The point is don’t talk about it. That is if it’s for the purpose of self promotion.
At the core of this is who do we fear, God or man? If we fear man, then we’ll want to promote ourselves. If God, then we won’t do so. We all have some measure of temptation to impress others. God will help us there. It’s quite empty, trying to impress others.
What matters is God’s kingdom and trying to spread it; not trying to promote ours. Jesus talks about the pharisees and how they try to impress others and how we aren’t to follow their example.
A strong christian principle is taught in Matthew 16:24, ‘Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”‘ Denying one’s self in not promoting ourselves. We deny that part of ourselves.
Casting Crowns has a song entitled Only Jesus. One verse says, “I don’t want to leave a legacy, I don’t care if they remember, only Jesus.” That’s it. It’s Him that we promote. I can recall going to a coworkers retirement party. They spoke highly of him. I drove away thing that I wanted that when I retire. That’s not a bad thing, but my motive was wrong. I wanted others to be impressed with me. I don’t care now, at least I try not to. What I want is to do a good job and to bless those who God intends me to bless. That’s all. I am not worried who sees.
This interesting thing about this is when we live for the Lord and give Him the glory, He honors us. Psalm 23 says, “He preparest a table for me in the presence of my enemies”. Crazy! Here we give up the notion of promoting ourselves and serve Him and He toots our horn. Look at the audience. Those who don’t like us and seek to obstruct us.
I’ve had a rough couple of months with two coworkers. They’ve been controlling and have been edging me out. I told the assistant principal, but she did nothing. God saw. I’m not worried. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if He blessed me in this. We’ll see.
The idea is “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” The sooner we get that the more He will fill us with contentment. That’s another point. We used to think that impressing others would fill us. It doesn’t. Yet, when we deny ourselves and follow Him He does fill us. This reminds me of a song, Simple Kingdom. One verse says, “Your kingdom is backwards, it flows in reverse. What You call a treasure the world calls a curse. The small become great and the last become first.” I love it. It’s true. We as christians no longer buy into the worlds values.
Does this mean we never talk about what the Lord has done through us? No. There are times when sharing instances blesses others. It encourages them to serve the Lord. However, this can lead to pride, so be careful.
Lord, thank You for this lesson. It is so non intuitive. We wouldn’t get it from the world. Yet it’s such a blessing. Thank You.