14 Forgive other people when they sin against you. If you do, your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive the sins of other people, your Father will not forgive your sins.
16 “When you go without eating, do not look gloomy like those who only pretend to be holy. They make their faces look very sad. They want to show people they are fasting. What I’m about to tell you is true. They have received their complete reward. 17 But when you go without eating, put olive oil on your head. Wash your face. 18 Then others will not know that you are fasting. Only your Father, who can’t be seen, will know it. Your Father will reward you, because he sees what you do secretly.
Read Matthew 6:14-18 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
When reading this passage from the gospel of Matthew, I am a little surprised at the idea we learn about here. While on the surface, this idea makes sense, this passage actually describes what is not on the surface in our lives – what is not visible to others.
After finishing the strong statement regarding forgiveness, Jesus then shifts His focus onto talking about motivation and fasting. Fasting is a personal thing that an individual does to help them grow closer to God, and in this last part of the passage, God wants us to keep this activity hidden from others. Jesus even concludes His point by saying, “Your Father will reward you, because he sees what you do secretly.” (v. 18b)
While we can take this concept and restrict it to simply the times we choose to fast, I believe Jesus is sharing an idea that covers more than simply one spiritual discipline. In Jesus’ concluding statement, He gives a principle that in context relates to fasting, but the statement by itself shares a broader theme.
Fasting is just one example of several spiritual disciplines, and if Jesus is using fasting as a specific example to help draw our attention to the group of spiritual disciplines, it is worth us taking this key idea and broadening it out to apply to all spiritual disciplines.
In this concluding phrase, Jesus draws our focus and attention onto doing spiritual disciplines like fasting on a personal level. While there were some people in the first century who wanted to publicize when they focused in on a spiritual discipline such as fasting or prayer, Jesus says here that what we do in private in this area of our lives is more important to God than what is done publicly.
This brings us to a key idea for us to focus on: The foundation for our spiritual lives should be based on activities that are unseen. While unseen activities will help shape our visible lives, we learn from Jesus’ words in this passage that God rewards the activities that are done when no one is watching.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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