Trust in Everything!

Matthew 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Today’s Reading: Matthew 6

“Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (vs. 1) Wow, pretty strong words! Jesus usually uses parables to get his point across, but there is no questioning his message in chapter 6. I really think that Jesus is telling us that when we give, it should be from our heart, out of love, and therefore we should have no desire for people to know that we gave. Our joy should come from what others receive, not from us getting credit for anything. I also think that we have to change our mindset when it comes to giving, we think so many times that we have to have something in order to give something, however, all we truly need is love in order to give. I think about all the little things that God does to show his love for me. Most of those things come in the quiet, alone times in my life, when it is just me and God. I think about how I feel when someone does something special for me, it is the little things that make a difference in people’s lives. The little things that show you truly care about them. Someone had put a piece of chocolate on my keyboard one morning at work and I wondered all day long who had done that, but it made my day---it let me know that someone cared about me. Later that day I ran into the one who did it, and with a big smile she gave me a hug. Whether our giving is large or small in cost or time, it should always come from love, nothing more, nothing less. Besides when we give like Jesus has taught us I am sure the reward that he has waiting for us is better than anything that we could ever receive on this earth!

I have one particular spot in my house that I go to pray and while I pray in many places, this is my favorite. I can’t tell you why I like this spot, but I have had many awesome conversations with God there, and when things are not going so great I long to get in my prayer area and bow my head before my King. I have read many books and articles about prayer, but honestly I think that God just wants us to be real with him. Like the Bible says, he already knows what we are going to ask, so why wouldn’t we just be honest with him? I once heard someone say that when we pray we should listen to God and equal amount of time as we took to speak to him. Is that not just the truth! I think if we would just stop and listen to him, we would not need to be asking for so much and our lives would probably be running a little smoother.

Shouldn’t the treasures that we store up in heaven be in the giving, in the prayer, in the forgiving, in the fasting, and in the loving that we do for others? And isn’t our relationship with Jesus built upon giving, prayer, forgiving, fasting, and loving? That is why I believe that Jesus stresses so deeply for us to do all this in secret before our Father and not before men. Yes, we will be rewarded in heaven, but we do these things and follow the instructions that Jesus gives in order to grow closer to him, in order for the light of Christ to shine a little brighter from us.

With everything going on in the world it is hard for people to understand that we are not to worry. How can I not worry when I can’t pay all the bills? How can I not worry when I am loosing my job? How can I not worry when the diagnosis is so grim? How can I not worry? While it is much easier to say don’t worry than to actually not worry when something is going wrong, when I really think about it what does worrying really accomplish? Like the bible says in vs. 27 “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Worrying pulls us down, when things are not going good, we have to look up and trust our Father to take care of us---there is no other option. We either trust him with everything or with nothing---I want to trust him with everything!