BULLETIN ARTICLE
1 March 2020
Hypocrite Or Genuine

Those of us with children or grandchildren will be familiar with the kind of attention-seeking behaviours that they do to push boundaries and our buttons. It seems that adults also are capable of attention-seeking behaviours. In Matthew 6:1-18, Jesus warns us against three types of attentionseeking behaviours masquerading under the guise of religious piety. Giving offerings during public worship (vv. 2-4), praying (vv. 5-15) and fasting (vv. 16-18).

While we might not sound our trumpets when we give to the needy in this day and age, there may be other ways in which we can subtly attempt to gain other people’s acknowledgement such as emphasizing the time we spend serving others in ministry, or even dwelling on the well-paying profession that one may have given up for the sake of full-time ministry or for missions.

Our prayers should be clear and straight to the point instead of being overly ostentatious as if such superficialities are required for them to be heard by our Father in heaven. The prayer that Jesus taught us to pray is one supreme example of that. Its simplicity exudes a child-like dependency on the supplicant’s loving Father. It is also not a selfish prayer as it opens in the plural “Our Father in heaven”. God’s children are to place the needs of others and God’s will ahead of personal needs and the will of the self.

Fasting if done should be done in secret and there should be no attempt for it to be made known for the purpose of garnering sympathy from others.

Jesus calls those who engage in such attention-seeking behaviours “hypocrites” which means play-acting. Life in the kingdom of heaven is not a matter of play-acting. Instead it calls for genuine followers of Christ who shun the limelight and instead make their chief aim in life to glorify God alone and to enjoy him forever.