Gracebug

“The sensualist, I’ll allow ye, begins by pursuing a real pleasure, though a small one. His sin is the less. But the time comes when, though the pleasure becomes less and less and the craving fiercer and fiercer, and though he knows that joy can never come that way, yet he prefers to joy the mere fondling of unappeasable lust and would not have it taken from him. He’d fight to death to keep it. He’d like well to be able to scratch: but even when he can scratch no more he’d rather itch than not.”

-C. S. Lewis The Great Divorce

I love to read. I really truly do. I love beginning a new book, I love the feeling of being lost in a book. I love the contentedness I feel at the end of a good book when all is right with the world. I love reading.

Historically reading has been an escape for me. If I’m bored with my life I can read an adventure and all of a sudden life isn’t boring any more. If I’m discontented with my life I can read a book about someone who has a life I would rather have and for the time that I’m trapped in those pages I’m a different person. I can escape the misery of my own life and trade it for fiction.

The problem with this type of reading is that once the book is over I always find myself more miserable than I was to start out. So to fill the hole that was only widened by my venture into book #1, I desperately seek book #2. And 2 becomes 20 becomes 200 and I am left with a really big itch that I can scratch no more.

And I find myself asking this question: Would I rather itch than not?

I have found that discontent is a sin that 100% of human beings struggle with. The devil feeds on discontent. I’m discontent in my singleness, I’m going to sell myself short. I’m discontent in my wealth, I’m going to be a greedy greedy-face. I’m discontent with life, I’m going to end it.

I’m discontent with life so I’m going to escape into a book.

I’ve been convicted a lot recently about being content in my circumstances. A direct result of that is a dramatic decrease in the amount of fiction I read. I try to get back into it, I really do. But books become less appealing when I stop comparing my life to them. Conversely, I hate how I feel after reading certain types of books. I find myself desiring a life that isn’t mine and when the book is over I itch!

My reading nightstand has probably four non-fiction books and two fiction books on it at the moment. I’m trying to read the fiction. I really am. But oddly my tastes have changed. I don’t really like crawling into bed with mosquitoes. I’d rather not itch.

Matthew 6:5-6
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners <<to be seen by others>>. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

We’ve all read these words. We create in our minds these images of crazy people praying loudly on the street corners. Guys in funky hats praying in a crowd and peeking a look to see who’s watching and saying “Ooh look at that man in a funky hat, he must be such a good man, he’s praying in public!”..

Nowadays we don’t have synagogues or really even street corners. We don’t have people who regularly go out in public and pray. That isn’t something that happens in modern America. So what the heck does this passage mean?

The overarching question is this: What do the hypocrites do? Who aren’t we to be like?

To answer this question we have to figure out where our synagogues and street corners are. I have a suggestion. Social media.

This is where everyone’s lives intersect. You can find literally anyone with only a few exceptions on the internet. My mom has a facebook…. Holy gee whiz. So basically if you were to show off to people you would post it on facebook or twitter or instagram or… your blog…

At this point I’m going to go a little off the beaten track and talk about Jesus. Jesus isn’t saying “Don’t pray in public”. Obviously it’s recorded in the bible that Jesus prays in front of people. He prayed while hanging on the cross. That wasn’t exactly a private moment. So either Jesus is a hypocrite or there’s more to this than merely praying in public.

It comes down to motive. The hypocrites pray in public to receive the praise and recognition of men while we are commanded to go into a figurative closet and pray to an audience of one.

I, for one, am guilty.

It’s so easy when you’re praying in front of people to get caught up in “I’m gonna say this and this and this because all those people will them ‘hmmmm’ and ‘yessss’ and ‘amen’.” And when people agree with your prayers it feels good because you feel like you’re such a big, good christian.

You hypocrite!

So parting questions that I want answers to in the comments:

1: What is the difference between hypocritical praying in public and biblical praying in public?

2: In what ways can we avoid being like the hypocrites?

3: How ought we respond to the hypocrites?