Friday, April 15, 2016

Secret Places


To the religious people among us: do not play-act. You (we) will be busted. That bit the Jesus says in a parable about the sin you do in secret being shouted from the roof tops, Don't think that that event is going to happen in the sweet by-and-by. That could happen today when your wife or kids find the port on your phone. It can happen when your neighbor who you invite to church every Christmas and Easter (that's the only time you talk to them, you know, when there's that big church program attendance push), catches you at Winn-Dixie or Applebee's raking store clerk or server over the coals because she got your order so horribly wrong (you know the one–you left her a Jesus tract that looks like a $100 bill instead of a tip). Your neighbor will tell her whole house and all the other parents down at the ball field about how you're "religious" but mean. That's happening already.

Who we are in secret is who we are. You want to know how to be religious? Don't tell anybody you're religious!

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matt 6:5-6 (NIV)

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