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For the Sake of Christ

Matthew 6:1
“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”
It is so easy to do things just for recognition. Mundane tasks of life become more interesting when people begin to applaud us for the work we have done, so we begin to do more only to be noticed. Then, when people stop giving thanks, we stop going the extra mile and begin to complain. Pleasing people only brings on misery because people will always disappoint us. There will not always be someone to thank us for the work in which we have done but at the end of the day, there is always Someone watching. Jesus is always in the audience, looking for our best effort, for Him. John chapter two verse seven expands on this saying, “Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.” The servants in this scene did not fill the waterpots to the brim for the sake of those who might have been watching, but for the One who instructed them to do so. In the same manner, we should find satisfaction in doing tasks for the One whose eyes we should be fixed on rather than for the fleeting desires of this life. 1 Corinthians 9:24 reminds us that we are all in a race, saying, “Do you not know that those who run a race all run but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” I must always remember that I am running a race with Jesus as my end goal and that when my eyes begin to wander from my true purpose, I begin running to receive a temporal prize; I am running in vein. With Jesus at the center of my life, I am no longer looking to the left or to the right for the approval of men because there is nothing else and no one else who can satisfy me the way Christ can. 

Application
This week, I will point out three things in my day that the Lord has blessed me with as a reminder that He is the author and finisher of my faith. 

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