Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others."
Of all Jesus' commandments, this has to be the easiest for modern American Christians to obey.
Nobody's praying to be seen. It's hard to find someone willing to pray in public!
Why are we so bashful about public prayer? Is it because we don't have enough experience in praying to feel confident in front of others that we are "doing it right"?
I've only known one person who "prayed like the hypocrites" prayed. She was the pastor's wife at the United Methodist church I served in Iowa. And she was a piece of work.
More than once I heard her explain to a group of church members, "Sometimes I am walking downtown and I am just so overwhelmed with gratitude to God that I just have to kneel down right there on the sidewalk and put my hands in the air and pray. People stop and stare, but I don't care."
I've never met another like her.
But I wonder which Jesus would consider to be worse: Praying like the hypocrites or not praying at all?
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