Take care about practicing
righteousness
before other people
to be seen by them
rather than being rewarded
by your Heavenly Father Who Is.
When you give to the poor,
don’t be like the hypocrites
who enter the sanctuary, sounding
their own horn in hopes
of getting people praise.
When you hold out your right hand
to give,
don’t let your left hand
even know what you’re doing
that your giving may be
kept secret from yourself,
so only your Father sees and knows.
And when you pray,
don’t be like the hypocrites,
who love to stand and pray
in the sanctuary and outside
on the street where everyone sees.
Truly, I tell you, they’ve received
their reward.
But when you pray, go
privately
into your own room
and shut the door and pray
to your Father Who Is
in secret.
And your Father Who sees
in secret
will reward you.
©2013 Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrase of today’s Daily Bible Reading in Matthew 6:1-6.