Whether you live for the approval of other people or the approval of God will make every bit of difference to how you live. In first-century Jewish society the people who were respected were those who were pious, wise and wealthy. A pious person was recognised by three habits: almsgiving, prayer and fasting. Many people did these things to be respected and admired by other people. Jesus exposes this in Matthew 6. He answers this problem by calling for a change in perspective. He calls us to lift up our gaze from the competitive rat-race of this world and live in the realm of God’s Kingdom, allowing his values to rule our lives. When you live for the approval of other people you are making them the judges of your life. This is a kind of idolatry because only God has the right to approve your life. We must stop making man into the judge, whether it be us or other people. Only God has the right to assess our lives. We should therefore only concern ourselves with who and what God wants us to be. Whether you are successful in the eyes of the world is completely irrelevant. Lift your gaze beyond the futile competitive agendas of the world and step up into the Kingdom. Seek the Kingdom. Seek to have your eyes open to the reality of the Kingdom. And if you seek you will find; if you knock, the door will be opened to you; if you ask you shall receive.
Ask God to open your eyes to what is most important.
Read Matthew 6:1-7:12
