Matthew 6

wow, the next few weeks are going to be stressful for me, exams are round the bend.
the crux of matthew 6 is doing things not for the praise of men, but for God's reward. our motives for doing the things that we do 'for God's glory' must be pure intentioned; and we must especially look out and avoid falling prey to these things. satan will always edge us into getting approval from men, even if we start out without selfish motives. especially since it's one of the most visible forms of things 'working out'.

for me, especially when i lead worship (and during the preparation), i often think of the end result where people come up to me and tell me what a great worship session it was and how i managed to lead the people so well. its good to know that you're annointed by God, but being praised by people was never meant to be your motivating factor.

keeping that in mind, its inevitable that people will praise you, its a good thing to be praised and appreciated! dont reject love yeah, but all praise and glory must be ascribed to God. notice how when Jesus healed people, how they walked away praising God! Matthew 5:16 "... let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Jesus did a great job with that.

its all about keeping a really great balance between doing things in the secret, for God's glory and shining for all the world to see, for God's glory.

what's your thrust? not just in God's work, but in school, at work and at home.