Are you an Hypocrite?

Matthew 6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

The text above is telling us about how hypocrites behave, that we should not behave in such manner( be different from them)

First, who is an Hypocrite?
An Hypocrite is a person who pretends to have moral standards or opinion that they do not actually have.

The hypocrites are pretenders trying to please man. GOD wants us to please Him not men. He does not want us to seek vain glory or praise from men.

Our actions should be to please GOD not man. In the text, the hypocrites pray that people may see them (why? so that people will have good opinions about them). The motive of their prayer was to seen of men.

What are your motives when you do good, pray and help your fellow brethren?
Is it that they should say/have the opinion that you are a fervent Christian or a good person?

What are your motives?

Then JESUS said they have their reward, their reward is the good opinion of the people they are pleasing.

In vs 6, Jesus is telling us how pray, that we pray in secret that our Father which seeth in secret will reward you openly.

This does not mean you will no longer pray in the Church, Jesus was trying to tell us that whatever we do should be to the Father, our praying, our actions should be to please GOD.

What are your motives?

Don't be men pleasers but always live to please GOD.

If you live to please men, your reward is their opinion of you. But when you live to please GOD genuinely (people may have good opinion of you also - but that should not be your target i.e motive) GOD will definitely reward you.

Questions to ponder on?

What are my motives for showing forth the fruits of the Spirit?
Is it to please men or GOD?

GOD bless you.

Shalom.

#AcceptChrist
#LiveforChrist