A Word from Matthew 6

Are you “practicing” for anything these days? For example, are you learning a new skill at work or training for a contest or race? Are you trying to get a recipe just right or watching lessons on the internet to fix something around the house?

Well you know, it occurs to me that it can be awfully easy to neglect practicing for things as we go through life. After all, we probably know how to do most of things that life requires. And so, why would we need to practice?

And yet, that need to invest ourselves in training for something important comes to the forefront in today’s word from Matthew 6, in which Jesus says this: “Be 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” (Mt. 6:1, emphasis added)

Now, the word for “practice” used in this verse is fairly common. It can mean simply to “do” or to “make” something. And yet, the majority of our English translations use the word “practice.” And in light of our current series about “Practicing the Way,” that seems kind of significant.

So it’s worth asking, I think, “Am I practicing my righteousness these days?” Am I so eager to reflect the character of Christ and walk in his way that I’m seeking and doing the things which will enable me—over time and with God’s grace—to become the kind of person the Lord has always intended me to be?

Of course, if we are “practicing our righteousness,” I hope we’re not doing it to be seen by others, since—as Jesus says—that might get us their admiration but not much else. And yet, Jesus seems to assume in these words that we will practice…perhaps because he knows that “practice makes perfect.”

So, may the Lord train us in perfection today, as we follow and practice His Way. Amen.