God-Honoring Piety

February 9, 2020 Background Scripture: Ecclesiastes 5:1 – 6; Matthew 6:1 – 18 Lesson Passage: Matthew 6:1 – 8 Today, the word “pious” is often used in a negative way. When we speak of someone as being pious, it will often evoke thoughts of hypocrisy. However, piety means to be devout, to be faithful, and/or to exemplify high quality as a standard. The word piety, as used in the New Testament, means to act in reverence and fear of God. The word has taken on a different meaning in its use today because some, who have presented themselves as such, have been found to be woefully lacking in any form of true piety. So often it seems that their actions are meant to project a false image of who they really are. People hide behind masks of piety—whether in church or not. Perhaps there is a good reason for this. Children are raised with the notion that they should “act like they have good sense”. And adults are sometimes admonished to “fake it until you can make it”. When one thinks about those two expressions, individuals are encouraged to project an image of someone they might not yet be. This is not all bad. Our habits are developed through repetitive actions. As children, we are “trained” to behave progressively with more and more mature actions. Even though we don’t understand it, we are taught to behave properly before we understand the reason for doing so. For Christians, it can be a different matter as we mature spiritually. The question for mature Christians is: What does God expect of me? As we begin to live up to God’s expectation of us, our actions around others will make sense. Our actions should be a true projection of what people cannot see within us. Put another way, our actions should leave no doubt concerning our motives. Motive. I believe that most people desire that everything we observe in others and everything we hear them speak be initiated by pure motives. In other words, if someone says I love you, we don’t want those words to be spoken without them being true. The same applies to us and how others should view us. That’s the reason the criteria should not be based on what we think others expect of us or should see in us. The criteria for Christians is that our actions should rightfully project our true reference and fear of God. When that occurs, then we are truly projecting a God-honoring piety. Our lesson’s text helps us with this. In the background scriptures, the Old Testament passage reminds of us two things. First, we should be careful of our actions whenever we find ourselves in the house of God. Secondly, we should be quick to hear and slow to speak. Our speech should be true, frank, and to the point. The more we talk, the more likely we are to say something that we might regret. An abundance of words is called the sacrifice of fools. In the New Testament passage, Jesus admonishes his followers to show benevolent love in such a way as to not draw attention to themselves. Their actions should reflect that they are true servants of God and not pleasers of men. The same disposition is to be exhibited in their prayer life. Personal prayers are powerful when they are private conversations with God and not public displays for people. God is not honored when people elevate one another. God is honored when His servants allow their hands, finances, and benevolent love to be used for His glory. Robert C. Hudson January 29, 2020