{"id":1642,"date":"2020-01-07T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-07T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=1642"},"modified":"2019-12-13T09:28:17","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T14:28:17","slug":"one-powerful-secret-that-tames-our-pride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/01\/07\/one-powerful-secret-that-tames-our-pride\/","title":{"rendered":"ONE POWERFUL SECRET THAT TAMES OUR PRIDE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cBe careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.\u201d  Matthew 6:1 NIV<\/em><\/strong>
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I remember a drama I saw at James City Community Church<\/a> in Williamsburg, VA.\u00a0 They had several people sitting in a row of chairs on the stage.\u00a0 An usher was passing the offering plate across the row. As he passed the plate, the person whose turn it was to donate would tell you what he or she was thinking.\u00a0 One woman felt guilty, so she was throwing everything she had in the plate, shoes, earrings, etc. One person had nothing, but placed an empty envelope in the plate so no one would know.\u00a0 And one person had a big check, literally an over-sized check. As he put his offering in the plate, he made sure to show the check to everyone. He wanted everyone to know how much money he gave.\u00a0 Today\u2019s verse addresses that guy, the one who wants everyone to know all He is doing for God.
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People like the big giver have to list everything they are doing all of the time.  They do this to let you know how \u201choly\u201d they are. But who are they really trying to impress?  They aren\u2019t impressing God, in truth, they aren\u2019t impressing others either. People really don\u2019t care what other people are doing, unless it directly affects them.  And they aren\u2019t serving God, according to Matthew. They are not storing up riches in heaven, they\u2019re performing for the wrong audience. They want people to applaud them for what they\u2019re doing, they aren\u2019t satisfied with the applause of just One.  Living for an audience of One requires no applause.
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Living for an audience of One requires no applause<\/strong>.
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Giving credit where credit is deserved can be one of the hardest things we do.  When we do our good deeds in private, we\u2019re allowing God to have the glory. We\u2019re giving Him the credit for what He has enabled us to do.  We can do nothing without Him. He gave us the air we breathe, if we can\u2019t breathe, we can\u2019t live. God is the author of life. Yet we take the credit for the work God has done.
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When we perform our good deeds in front of others, we\u2019re taking the focus off of God and putting it on ourselves.  We\u2019re waiting for the compliments from other people telling us how great we are for all we do. But we couldn\u2019t do anything if it wasn\u2019t for the blessings God gives us.  We\u2019re forgetting that part of the story. We\u2019re not giving credit where credit is due. Live for an audience of One today, let Him be your reward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What audience are you performing for today?
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Further Reading<\/strong>: Genesis 16:1-18:15 NIV<\/a>, Matthew 6:1-24 NIV<\/a>, Psalm 7:1-17 NIV<\/a>, Proverbs 2:1-5 NIV<\/a>
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\u201cBe careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.\u201d  Matthew 6:1 NIV I remember a drama I saw at James City Community Church in Williamsburg, VA.\u00a0 They had several people sitting in a row of… Continue reading ONE POWERFUL SECRET THAT TAMES OUR PRIDE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1642"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1645,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions\/1645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}