I’m awakened early.

Not unusual

I’m told to start at Matthew

Not unusual

Im made to listen

Not unusual

Chapter by chapter, verse by verse, line upon line, precept by precept…

Not unusual

I come to chapter 6.

“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.

2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. – Matthew 6:1-8

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew6:1-8&version=NIV

I am a writer.

Facebook has simply been a platform where I write. It was a place where I was first able to get my writings across cities, states, and countries.

Nevertheless, I need to listen, and not harden my heart to what I am about to hear. I need to listen, understand, and obey. What am I hearing?!

I am hearing in my spirit that this is going to be something heavy, something hard, so I need to pray first.

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Father in the name of Jesus I ask that my ears remain opened to hear what King Jesus is saying here. Please don’t allow the closing of my ears like what Isaiah was told. Not this time.

Please Father, in the name of King Jesus, I ask that my eye is allowed to see and perceive what my ears hear so that my heart can understand and if I need to turn in any area I can do so and receive my healing.

Father, you said that you desire obedience and not sacrifice. I want to understand so that I can obey.

I need the help of my tutor to help me understand and to help me to ask the right questions so that I can get the answers I seek so that I can understand.

In the name of Jesus, I pray seeking wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and Truth amen.

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Ok let me dissect this…

 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 6:1a

One is declared righteous by their faith.

This clearly says beware of “practicing your righteousness” before other people in order to be seen by them.

What I know is that there are two types of righteousness – man’s and God’s. So I need to make sure I am understanding what King Jesus is saying here.

Initially what stands out to me is the saying “to be seen” because that is what FACEBOOK is all about. It’s about being seen.

It next says,

“for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”

Matthew 6:1b

Let me be honest here: This is one of the biggest ways in which Face [to be seen] book rewards.

The next big way Facebook rewards is to gain followers and have your friends list grow.

That moment we begin posting just to get “👍likes” is the moment we forfeit our reward in heaven for an reward on earth from men.

In listening, what I am hearing is that we are looking for followers in the “likes”, but whom people should follow is Jesus Christ. Jesus said if he be lifted up, he will draw all men after him.

Omg I did hear something and I thought I was writing but apparently I nodded off to sleep and I didn’t write though I literally saw myself writing. Omg.

Well let me just continue and try to write from what I remembered hearing now that I am awake.

When I say I pondered this for a minute I did. Here we are the next day and I’m still trying to write. But I’m glad that I waited and here is why…

King Jesus answered my questions

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. – Matthew 5:14-16

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew5:14-16&version=NIV

Is this a contradiction of what was said and shared earlier? No it is not.

Here is where I found my answer and the confirmation:

I thought I was going to move on to #2 but something in #1 kept nagging at me.

It was the part that said “do not practice your righteousness…”.

Whenever I hear the word righteousness I understand that it means faith in God. I needed to make sure that I was understanding what I was hearing, and that took me to 1 John 3:4-10.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. – 1 John 3:4-10

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1John3:4-10&version=ESV

Ok, so we are either going to practice righteousness or we are going to practice sin.

Now those who know me know that I had questions:

How do you practice righteousness? Is there any more references that can make this clear for me?

And anyone who knows our Heavenly Father knows that HE sent the Holy Spirit with the answer. So, here are2 the references:

• 1 John 2:29
• Ezekiel 18:5-9 (OMG read the entire chapter oowee.)
• Romans 2:12-16

Omg those verses were good and it left me understanding that practicing righteousness is doing God’s will and following God’s word.

King Jesus, in Matthew chapter 6, was not telling us to not do God’s Word. Instead what he said was for us to not do things to be seen by men.

The more I sat with this, the more I began to understand. It’s almost like saying don’t be two-faced. Yet I needed more clarity, and so I waited a little longer before sharing this

Like the disciples who followed behind Jesus in the house to get more understanding while the other followers left (See Matthew 13:36), I needed more clarity. So I continued to ponder matters as I waited to share and it was this morning, as I obeyed King Jesus’ command to listen that I heard more of an answer.

In Matthew 5:14-16 and Matthew 23:5-7, Jesus made it clear what practicing righteousness to be seen by men looks like. Clarifying this without any doubt for me.

2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it. – Matthew 23:2,5-8,22

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew23:2,5-8,22&version=NIV

I began to realize that it’s about the heart condition.

We are to let out light shine. But we need to not forget that our light is King Jesus.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God —children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:1-14

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John1:1-14&version=NIV

Jesus life is our light. When we let our light shine we are representing Jesus. We are lifting HIM up in a manner that it is not about us at all. We are not drawing attention to ourselves but magnifying King Jesus.

2) “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Matthew 6:2 NIV

We’ve seen a lot of this not just on facebook, but on amm where different ones have made public the things they did to help others. God’s word said that they have ready received their reward.

Consider this: if you already have your reward what are you expecting to still get?!

Even in the things we share on social media we need to be mindful of what our why is.

Are we trying to get likes 👍 and followers or are we promoting and lifting up King Jesus?

Remember: We are going to be judged by every word we speak King Jesus said. Matthew 12:36-37.

We need to keep this in mind and examine, not our neighbor but ourselves in how we are presenting ourselves on any social media platform.

Who are we representing? Ourselves, or King Jesus?

Know that HE has already forewarned us.