Greetings, dear ones.
I’ve knocked out another old man jog without being rained on—or dying from a heart attack. I returned to fabricate a breakfast fruit salad that I also used for making some fruit smoothies. We’re grateful for fresh raw milk and cream as ingredients. Good stuff. Now, I’ll jump in the shower and get off to church with our gang—which includes Thano’s two boys—Kaden (9) and Nicholas (7).
Let’s remember why we’re here—why we’re being given still another day. May it be a blessed one.
Love, Ray
I’m judging that you and I will never hear a more vitally important and concise piece of instruction for successfully doing life than what we have right here from Jesus—from the One who knows everything about everything.
Let’s face it—we all live double lives—divided between PUBLIC and PRIVATE. Jesus makes it clear in this passage that if our PUBLIC appearance is your priority concern, your PRIVATE living will suffer the inevitable consequences of hypocrisy—causing you attempt doing and being something in PUBLIC that you are not and do not do in PRIVATE.
I’d like to cut through the fat and dig deeper than just applying this axiom to our religious activities of giving, prayer, and fasting. I suggest that we carefully deal with square one--examining our motives for doing life. “Why am I here? What’s the purpose for my existence? What is my fundamental and essential job description?”
A modern worship song (by Kent Henry) captured my attention recently in church. It offers a concise and dynamic answer to the overarching question of purpose. Let me cite the words of that song:
When I look into Your holiness
When I gaze into Your loveliness
When all things that surround become shadows
In the light of You
When I've found the joy of reaching Your heart
When my will becomes enthroned in Your love
When all things that surround become shadows
In the light of You
I worship You—I worship You
The reason I live is to worship You
I worship You—I worship You
The reason I live is to worship You
Did you catch that last line? “THE REASON I LIVE IS TO WORSHIP YOU.” Can anyone offer me a more compelling and comprehensive reason for my existence? If worshipping and living to please my Maker is NOT the core reason I live, what is? Is there any message more vital to display on the walls of my PRIVATE world than this? I’m convinced that if you can embrace that statement of purpose within the halls of your PRIVATE world, your PUBLIC performance will play out just fine.
PS: Whereas Jesus mentioned the danger of “showing off” in the FOCUS VERSE, perhaps I’ll stick on the chorus of a related little song that I composed some time back—for whatever it’s worth: