by Wesley Blackburn
Much like yesterday, I think that you could easily spend a year in this passage and not even begin to scratch the surface of what Jesus is teaching here. But again, like yesterday, I think there are a couple of key themes here, and I'd love to share those with you.
Theme #1: Treasure is in heaven with God, not on earth with man.
In today's reading, Jesus starts off with several teachings on prayer and fasting where he talks about religious figures who made it really obvious or made a big show of things. For Jewish religious leaders, it wouldn't be that uncommon to seek prayers in really public places to showcase religiosity. When they would fast, the same thing would happen... they would make it really obvious to people around them so that they could impress others with their very high level of spirituality. But in these moments, people who do such things are really valuing the praise and adoration of men higher than they are their relationship with God.
I think that's part of the reason why Jesus uses those couple of examples to lead into the whole "store up treasures in heaven" idea. When we actually take Jesus at His word and pray by ourselves, fast with no one knowing, or give without showcasing how much we've given, we're actually doing these disciplines because we have faith. We're showing God that we truly believe He hears us or sees us when we pray, give, or fast, and that that is enough. Even though we can't see or necessarily sense it, we believe it. And that's the kind of faith I believe God honors.
Theme #2: God wants to give us things.
God probably won't honor your frequent requests for a new sportscar, a winning lotto ticket, or the coolest wardrobe in the world. However, God wants to give you things. In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus makes it pretty clear. God understands we are physical people living in a physical world. He promises to provide for us, which is pretty cool of Him to do. We might as well quit worrying about it and start trusting Him.
But God even goes one step further. In Matthew 7:7-8, we're told to ask, seek and knock in our prayers. Essentially, Jesus is asking us (even giving us permission) to fearlessly and recklessly ask God for things in prayer. Is it possible that God might give us something just because we kept asking? Yeah, I believe it is. That demonstrates our faith in Him to be able to provide. That really honors God. In fact, in the book of James, the Bible actually tells us that sometimes we don't have simply because we don't ask. It's not a promise that we'll always get what we ask for, but it is God's promise that our prayers really can move His heart and release Him to do things that otherwise might not happen.
And that, right there, is incentive enough for me to keep asking, keep praying, and keep seeking. I hope it is for you too.
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