The Saints Gospel 41

Your Father Who Sees in Secret

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“Take care not to practice your righteousness before people in order to be seen by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father in the heavens. So when you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and streets, so that people may glorify them. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your almsgiving may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in synagogues and at street corners, so that people may see them. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But you, when you pray, enter your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. When praying, do not babble like the Gentiles, for they think they will be heard through their many words.

“So do not become like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. You, then, pray like this: ‘Our Father in the heavens, let Your name be hallowed. Let Your kingdom come. Let Your will be done, as in heaven, also upon earth. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but rescue us from evil.’ For if you forgive people their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive people, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And when you fast, do not become gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so that people may see they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But you, when fasting, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen by your Father who is in secret, rather than by people; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

“Do not store up treasures for yourselves upon earth, where moth and consumption destroy and where thieves break through and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor consumption destroys and where thieves neither break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. The lamp of the body is the eye. So if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be dark. So if the light within you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve as a slave to two masters: for he will either hate the one and love the other, or hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve as a slave to God and mammon. Therefore I tell you: do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky: they do not sow or reap or gather into storehouses, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they?

“Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his lifespan? And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which exists today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, people of little faith? So do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the nations seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious about itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

← 40 Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit · The Saints Gospel: all scenes · 42 The Narrow Gate and the House on the Rock →

Saints Translation · The Saints Gospel · a harmony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts 1 · words of Christ in red · working draft awaiting specialist review.