Prayer That Makes Us Look Nice (TMF:1235)

Friday, October 11, 2019
Peace to Live By: Prayer That Makes Us Look Nice (TMF:1235) - Daniel Litton
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       When we pray in front of others to be seen by them, Jesus tells us that that’s the only reward we are going to receive—the praise of men. We aren’t going to receive any praise from God for such an action—no reward now in this life and no reward for Heaven in the future. Basically, in essence, the prayer doesn’t count. It falls short of even reaching God’s ears because it was not prayed with a right heart attitude. Jesus talked about some of the customs of the Jews in his time. These are things he observed, hypocritical things that he had seen probably growing up as a child and as he was out in public. He said, “For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others” (ESV). So, Jesus uses the word ‘love’ here to denote just how much the Pharisees enjoyed doing this. During the time of Jesus, the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his day, would stand up and pray in their church services, their synagogues, and on the street corners. And Jesus could tell that they really did this to be seen by others—to look good.