Grace and peace to you from God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
I reflect here upon Matthew Chapter 6 vs 1-6 and 16-18. In these verses, Jesus speaks to His disciples about the importance of the “inner life.” Our Christian lifestyle is not to be a series of right actions that are like a play actor, following a script and dressing up to look the part. The word ‘hypocrite’ is from the Greek word used for a stage actor. Jesus is saying that we cannot simply appear to be doing acts of righteousness, not simply portraying a holy life for others to see. We must have a deep inner life, one in which we do the right thing even when no one is watching. One in which we live from deep within our hearts and not simply to win the approval of others.
Jesus is not suggesting that our Christian life is a private affair between us and God and that it should be kept secret from others. Our lives must impact on others, our prayers must change our attitude towards others, they must engage with God, to fill us with mercy and grace and then, transformed, our actions are to be driven by a deep sense of love for God and neighbour and all creation.
The inner life is where you commune with God and find real peace. The text reminds us to live a contemplative life in which we take every circumstance of our life, every experience, and we draw these (we make sense of them) in our inner room of prayer. And there we develop a deeper relationship with God. Find contentment in your soul and worship the Lord your God in spirit and truth. “Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.” (PS 37:5 NLT)
Pray for me and be assured of my prayers.
~Andrew Manning
