Religious people are always praying before meals in public.
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray…

The first time my father-in-law met me he said, “I’m not into all the hocus pocus of religion.” This could have easily been an offensive statement since I was preparing to become a minister. Yet I agreed with him, though I was not exactly sure what he meant at the time. My understanding on his statement was that people have a tendency to take a spiritual act and turn in into a spectical.

Of course praying is a very important element of the spiritual life, no one would deny that. Yet when prayer becomes a public spectical it is perverted. The focus is no longer on the spiritual element, but on the person or persons doing the spiritual act.

Jesus dealt with a group of very religious leaders during his day. He would repremand them for their self serving actions that took the focus off of God and placed it upon them. Whether it was standing on the street corner and praying or making sure they had lots of money to drop in the offering in front of everyone, Jesus never gave them the satisfaction of his attention but always put the focus on God.

Every religion or spiritual group has the same tendency. We think that because we have been loved by God we are better than others. What we fail to recognize is Jesus reminds us that the one who serves others is the greatest, the last shall be first when it comes to God. Therefore he went away in private to pray to the Father, we are encouraged to go into our closets and pray. The goal is to let God be God, and for us to learn to love our neighbor as ourself.

Interested in the substance of faith rather than the show, want to do what needs to be done in the closet so that when you come out you can love others, click here.