I am a Jesus pusher!!! Intimate relationship with Him shared through daily living applies to the spiritual discipline of “prayer” (Matthew 6:5-15). Jesus moves from the negative to the positive in His teaching. In both the sections on charitable deeds and “prayer,” the instructions focus on the motive of being seen by men. Jesus compares what man sees to what our Father sees. Our Father sees everything, even what we do in secret. This focuses not on the activity of prayer but on the motive behind prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is given to us as an example or pattern for prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). This prayer section ends with a strong emphasis on the need for forgiveness (Matthew 6:14-15).
Once again Jesus brings us face to face with the reality of the basic message of His sermon. If we achieved the proper observance of the mode and method of prayer, what would be the point? If we avoid the externalism of the Pharisees and correctly follow the form of the Lord’s Prayer, what will we gain? We must lay our inner man wholly before the penetrating light of our King. We must embrace the way that light changes and influences us. The call is not to bend to the form or moral code of performing deeds in certain ways. How would that be different from the Law that is fulfilled in Jesus? This is the Kingdom of Heaven. We are in relationship with Jesus, our King. His heart produces our observances. No wonder I am a Jesus pusher!!!