Imperishable Inheritance

Why must I con­tinue to boast of my right­eous­ness? If only I knew I had none. I spend so much time wor­ry­ing about prov­ing to oth­ers that I am intel­li­gent, capa­ble, able and wor­thy to have a rela­tion­ship with You. Why must I get con­tin­u­ally caught in what I believe I can offer to You?

“Beware of prac­tic­ing your right­eous­ness before men to be noticed by them; oth­er­wise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. “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.
Matthew 6:1–2

I feel as though I need to have my accom­plish­ments known. “Look at me. Look what I’ve done.” As if You can­not tell what I do in private.

“But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giv­ing will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:3–4

I’m caught into the lure of cor­po­rate wor­ship. Why when I pray to you in pri­vate am I shown what a hyp­ocrite I am? How I love to hear praise of myself in front of others.

“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. “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.
Matthew 6:5–6

To ram­ble need­lessly with words that only work to impress oth­ers and not glo­rify you. As if you needed me to show you what I and oth­ers need.

“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. “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
Matthew 6:7–8

How beau­ti­ful Your name is Father. How beau­ti­ful you are. The shin­ing light I see before me to which I reach out­ward and yet always feel as though I fall short. Please come back to me. I want to hold you. Please flush this all away.

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hal­lowed be Your name. ‘Your king­dom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:9–10

I need only ask for that which I need. The daily sus­tance nec­es­sary to con­tinue to wor­ship and glo­rify You in all your majesty and right­eous­ness. Why do I place empha­sis on things that are only exces­sive to what I need? I only need Your grace.

‘Give us this day our daily bread.
Matthew 6:11

My iniq­ui­ties abound on You. Why did You my pre­cious Lord and Sav­ior bother with me? How could you pos­si­bly love me in a way that I could never love You? I con­tinue to pro­fess a walk in your light and yet cower to the dark­ness, and when oth­ers go against me I feel as though every­thing must be set right. I have no con­cep­tion of Your awe­some grace and love.

‘And for­give us our debts, as we also have for­given our debtors.
Matthew 6:12

Why do I con­tinue to search for the dark­ness? Is it because I don’t ask for Your deliverance?

‘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.]‘
Matthew 6:13

Why must I for­give oth­ers? I abhorre doing it. It is so much eas­ier to remain resent­ful and ungraceful.

“For if you for­give oth­ers for their trans­gres­sions, your heav­enly Father will also for­give you. “But if you do not for­give oth­ers, then your Father will not for­give your trans­gres­sions.
Matthew 6:14–15

As I con­tinue to live in my van­ity and love of my actions, I begin to real­ize through Your words that I must hide my face and wash away my desire to show oth­ers of what I am and what I am doing. Please see me.

“When­ever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hyp­ocrites do, for they neglect their appear­ance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fast­ing. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fast­ing will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:16–18

Do I stay in a job that I have the oppor­tu­nity to make good money, or should I risk it all to take a path of uncer­tainty? Am I invest­ing my soul into my pos­ses­sions? I thought I was not a mate­ri­al­is­tic per­son? What must I do to clean my heart?

“Do not store up for your­selves trea­sures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for your­selves trea­sures in heaven, where nei­ther moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your trea­sure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19–21

The shine in my eye has dimin­ished. I do not reflect You. Why is it that when I do just one “lit­tle” thing that my whole soul is immersed in con­tri­tion? Oh Father, I thank you for that sorrow.

“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of dark­ness. If then the light that is in you is dark­ness, how great is the dark­ness!
Matthew 6:22–23

So which path should I take?

“No one can serve two mas­ters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can­not serve God and wealth.
Matthew 6:24

I am caught up in my wor­ries for myself. Look at me run­ning around check­ing my bank account, my girl­friend, my social net­work. Look at all the things I put before You. What should I do?

“For this rea­son I say to you, do not be wor­ried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than cloth­ing? “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heav­enly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
Matthew 6:25–26

“Chris, it’s time for you to stop; and lis­ten to Me.”

“And who of you by being wor­ried can add a sin­gle hour to his life?
Matthew 6:27

My worry of myself extends to an earthly, vain attempt to be remem­bered. I feel Father that you are pulling me in a way to do amaz­ing things on amaz­ing lev­els for you. Is it that uncom­mon? What is my def­i­n­i­tion of a large dif­fer­ence? How I want to extend my oppor­tu­nity to be in the his­tory 101 textbook.

“And why are you wor­ried about cloth­ing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed him­self like one of these.
Matthew 6:28–29

Look at me go around and around in ana­lyza­tion of what I believe I deserve. How I now see that you reward those who are reliant upon You and Your majesty, Your grace, Your love, Your empa­thy, Your immutabil­ity, Your omnipo­tence, and Your glory.

“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomor­row is thrown into the fur­nace, will He not much more clothe you? You of lit­tle faith!
Matthew 6:30

Oh Jesus, for­give my lack of faith. I am noth­ing before You. I am a whore, a bas­tard child, one deserv­ing of Your fury and wrath. I see now how you work in Your cre­ation. As I pon­der on the majesty of Your love…

“Do not worry then, say­ing, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for cloth­ing?’ “For the Gen­tiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heav­enly Father knows that you need all these things.
Matthew 6:31–32

I see now. Thank You for Your time­less words. Thank You for Your won­der­ful blan­ket of mercy. I thank You for your knowl­edge that is to great for me to under­stand. Please help me to remem­ber this les­son and not have it be a fleet­ing experience.

“But seek first His king­dom and His right­eous­ness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:33

Is this all I have to do? It seems so sim­ple yet the task seems so impos­si­ble. I desire to know You, but how do I go about doing such a mon­u­men­tal task?

“So do not worry about tomor­row; for tomor­row will care for itself. Each day has enough trou­ble of its own.
Matthew 6:34

Ah…one day a time.