\u201cAnd whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. \u00a0But whenever 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.\u201d\u00a0 Matthew 6: 5-6<\/p>\n
One of the most difficult, but most important, things to learn to do is to \u201cpray in your closet.\u201d By that I mean to do good deeds, accomplish things, and serve others without having to draw a big crowd.<\/p>\n
When we get to the point where we can do great things without needing to tell everyone about it, then we are doing those things for the right reason<\/em>.\u00a0 If I can help someone without having to tell my friends and family all about it, then I\u2019ve been charitable for that person. I haven\u2019t been charitable in order to brag.<\/p>\n There is a gentleman in my church who is older and a little bit foreboding. It takes him some time to warm up to people.\u00a0 He attends church every Sunday, sits in the same seat, and comes and goes without much fanfare.\u00a0 What no one knows is that he has donated more money to the church than probably anyone.\u00a0 If there is a financial need, he fills it.\u00a0 Silently.\u00a0 And if someone asked him about it, I would\u00a0bet he\u2019d brush off the question.\u00a0 While the rest of us talk about Matthew 6: 5-6, he lives<\/em> it.<\/p>\n Admittedly, that is hard to do. Human beings are sensitive creatures.\u00a0 We struggle if we don\u2019t get positive feedback.\u00a0 But it is important to learn to stop craving mankind\u2019s approval and to solely crave God\u2019s approval.\u00a0 The way to do that is to practice serving God privately.\u00a0 When I can do that, then I know that my actions are truly motivated by my desire to serve Him.<\/p>\n Of course, I don\u2019t think there is anything wrong with people who do good deeds and tell everyone about it. Our world is a better place because Bill Gates does good deeds and let\u2019s everyone know what he is doing.\u00a0 He is using his fame to draw our attention to problems in the world that need to be addressed.\u00a0 That is a good thing.<\/p>\n However, when we do good deeds privately, that is for the purpose of our learning how to let go of our egos. Let\u2019s face it.\u00a0 Most of us are our own worst enemies.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because our egos have too much control over us.\u00a0 Our egos cause us to be easily offended.\u00a0 Our egos demand that other people compliment us constantly, or we feel insecure.\u00a0 Our egos lead us to show off and, as a result, look foolish.\u00a0 We do a myriad of stupid things because we are driven by our egos and that prevents us from truly becoming successful human beings.<\/p>\n The best way to learn to let go of our egos is to regularly do things that don\u2019t feed our egos. We need to spend time doing certain things because they are the right thing to do<\/em>.\u00a0 We need to help others for their sake.<\/em> We need to encourage others and stop competing with them<\/em>.\u00a0 Simply put, we need to stop obsessing about ourselves and start obsessing about how to better serve God.<\/p>\n Today, consider some ways that you can practice \u201cpraying in your closet.\u201d It is a good way to learn to let go of your ego and to start living in service to God.\u00a0 It is hard to do, but in the end, it is the best way to have a happy, successful life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cAnd whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. \u00a0But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n