Giving to the Poor and Prayer
1"Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.2"So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
3"But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
5"When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
6"But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
7"And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
8"So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
9"Pray, then, in this way:
'Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10'Your kingdom come
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11'Give us this day our daily bread.
12'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]'
14"For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15"But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
This was a portion of our Scripture passage for reading and discussion today with the girls. For children, who often take things very literally, it was not the easiest passage to explain.
I usually start out by saying, "If either of you have any questions when I'm reading, please raise your hand or tap me on the arm, and we'll see if we can figure out an answer."
We started out by reading the last portion of Matthew 5 in which Jesus states, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you..." It didn't take long for Claire's little hand to shoot into the air. I glanced sidelong at her, hoping she might just be fidgety. She looked at me, her eyebrows flexed in doubt. I asked her what her question was, and she said, "That doesn't make any sense." I told her that's exactly why Jesus said it, because everyone else listening to him thought it didn't make sense either." They had never heard of such an absurd idea. Nobody could possibly argue that choosing love and kindness over hate and anger, as difficult as that would be, wouldn't make the world a better place.
With that question pretty much laid to rest, we moved on to Matthew 6:5-6. As you can see above, it's about praying in public. The Bible also tells us to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thes. 5:17). So this was another one that was a little harder to explain. Yes, we should pray all the time, but we shouldn't let it be known or obvious that we are doing so. Basically, we shouldn't pray obnoxiously. We shouldn't pray "at people". Instead, we should pray "for people". In any case, if you're going to pray, do it quietly and respectfully.
Sadie said, "Like maybe we could go into a phone booth to pray for people." This made me smile, as I wondered how on earth they could know what a phone booth even is. (I haven't seen one of those, myself, for probably at least 10-15 years.) I said, "Like Superman?" Claire piped in, "Yeah! Like Superman. Hey, why doesn't Superman just change in the port-a-potty? There's more room, no windows, and a lock on the door... oh, and a potty." Aces, Claire. The child with difficulty focusing can always be counted on to bring a little levity to any conversation. However, I had to admit that, at least Biblically speaking, praying in the port-a-potty would be preferable to praying on the street corner.
This turned my mind to another amusing memory. Probably about a year ago, my husband's parents came to visit our house. They live in Iowa. When they arrived, he, being the good host he tries to be, offered them something to drink. To preface, my husband had a thing for orange and grape pop for awhile. He liked the most generic forms of orange and grape soda, which, frankly, make me want to hurl. Aside, never had he asked me to purchase any form of Coke product for himself, although I usually keep diet/caffeine free for myself. He said to his dad, "We have water, milk, pop...(glancing at me), what - we have Coke, Diet Coke, orange, grape?" I said, "We don't have coke." He said, "We don't have coke?" (As though I had committed the cardinal sin of wifedom.) I said quietly, "No. We've... never... h-had Coke." He promptly replied, "Well... I'd like to see a little more Coke around here!" Outside me said, "Um, okay." Inside me was saying, "Um, exqueeze me, King Henry VIII? Shall I also bear you a son immediately or be banished to the Tower?"
When I retold this exchange to my husband later, he laughed incredulously and said, "I didn't really say that. Did I?" I said, "Um, yes you did! Were you just trying to impress the guests?" He honestly still doesn't remember saying it, although it has become quite a joke around here and at his parents's house (as they remember it too) - the "bring me my hasenpfeffer!" joke.
The point is that sometimes, maybe we all like to look a little better than we are... a little more impressive. I'm so glad that God sees the heart... good, bad, prideful, weak, hurting, helpless, raw... and that He's never shied away from our humanity. On the contrary - He has embraced it fully in giving us His Son - who was fully God and fully man - in order to reconcile us with Himself. An encouragement would be to ask God to help us make the choice to be authentic, but to learn, in the process, to authentically love, pray for, and give to others, yes, even our enemies, maybe even especially them. That should make loving everyone else seem like a piece of cake... even if you're just praying for them in the port-a-potty.
