Devotion 8/21, Lord, Purify my Heart
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.
Matthew 6:1
As is always the case with God, our motivation for what we do and say is key to Him. God desires that our hearts be right and humble before Him in all things. There is no room for pride or arrogance in the life of a child of God, especially when it comes to those things that we do for God. Clearly some of what we do for God will be seen by others, this verse is not suggesting that we never do anything for God that will be seen by others. What Jesus is saying in this verse is we are not to purposely call attention to those things for recognition from others.
Mark 12:42 is a good example of this. The wealthy would come to the synagogues and call much attention to the large amounts of money they put into the temple treasury. But Jesus called the disciples attention to a widow who came and gave two copper coins which was all she had to live on. Christ said she gave more for she gave all she had! No one there in the temple that day paid any attention to this down trodden widow who gave next to nothing monetarily, but she had the attention of the Lord, which is most important. Her reward in heaven was great!
Our goal must be to honor God and when we are honoring Him from our heart blessing others becomes our nature.
Almighty God, please purify my heart of any false motivation and help me serve others based on their need and my desire to honor you in helping them. In Jesus’ name, I ask for this help. Amen.
Lord, purify my heart, that all I think and do are pleasing to You. I pray the motives for what I say and do today are solely to honor You and to build Your Kingdom. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
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