Day 4: Passion Rather Than Performance

Scripture
And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:5-6


Devotion
Maybe it’s happened to you too—you’re praying with a group of people and it seems like it’s your turn to pray. Your hands get sweaty. Your heart starts racing. Your mind goes blank. You want to join in the prayer, but you feel more like you’re putting on a performance than talking to God. Or maybe instead, your turn to pray in a group is coming and you can’t wait to display how amazing you are at praying and how much you know about the Bible! Or maybe when you hear about the private prayers of other people you compare yourself to it and feel like your own praying is inadequate—you’re not performing well enough. You think, “God must not be very happy with me.” Or maybe, on the other hand, you hear about how much other people are praying and you think, “I didn’t realize I was doing this well at the Christian life! Jesus would be so impressed!”

When we compare ourselves to other people, we will end up either feeling pride or despair. If we compare ourselves and think, “I’m doing pretty well,” then we may fall into pride—thinking that we are better than other people. However, if we compare ourselves to others and think, “I’m failing miserably,” then we may fall into despair—hopelessly thinking that we could never measure up. I have good news today—prayer is not about your performance. In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches us that we don’t pray to impress other people, but instead, we pray to connect with God. In other words, prayer is about your relationship with God, not about your reputation among people. In Jewish culture, prayer was a regular, daily part of their lives. Public prayer was a common thing at set times throughout the day. But sometimes, when it was time to pray, some people looked at it as an opportunity to display how great they were so that “they may be seen by others” (v. 5). Jesus says they are “hypocrites” (v. 5). Why? Because they are praying as if they have a deep connection to God, but their internal motivation was to impress people. Imagine a child who came up to talk to a parent, but the child was not that interested in talking with and connecting with the parent. The child instead wanted to impress his brothers and sisters. Can you imagine how the parent would feel? That is what Jesus is pointing out.

In Matthew 6, Jesus is not condemning all public prayer. But, in effect, he’s saying, “What is your motivation to pray?” That is why he says that God likes private prayers that no one knows about—secret prayers. He sees these secret prayers that are not being done in public to impress people, and he says, “your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” I have good news today—prayer is not about your reputation among people. Prayer is about your relationship with God. You have a God who loves you. You have a God who longs to spend time with you. You have a God who simply wants you to come to him with the motive of wanting to spend time with him. Prayer is not about your performance but your passion.


Application
Prayer is not about you feeling good enough or performing well enough. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, you are approved! You are a child of God! Today, you can pray in secret with a passionate longing to connect with God like a child connecting with a parent. If you are feeling numb or lacking passion, then you can come to God in secret today and tell him. Ask him for fresh passion! Ask him to forgive and purify your motives! Ask him to awaken in you a desire to connect with him in prayer!


Prayer
Father, we come to you today disappointed by our failures in prayer. We are sorry that sometimes we hypocritically use prayer to impress others. Please heal our hearts of the need for the approval of people, and replace it with a passion for you. Free us from the desire to perform in prayer, and fill us with your Spirit so that we will simply come to you honestly, humbly, and connect with you. Amen.