The Secret Life of Faith: Reflections on Ash Wednesday - Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
The Problem of Performance
Jesus addresses a tendency that remains as relevant today as it was two thousand years ago: the temptation to turn our spiritual lives into a performance. Whether through almsgiving, prayer, or fasting, we can easily fall into the trap of practicing our faith for the approval of others rather than for genuine communion with God.
The hypocrites Jesus describes weren't necessarily insincere in their beliefs. Their problem was that they had confused the audience. They performed their religious duties for human eyes rather than divine ones, seeking earthly applause instead of heavenly transformation.
Three Practices, One Principle
Jesus offers specific guidance for three spiritual disciplines:
Almsgiving should be done so quietly that even your left hand doesn't know what your right hand is doing. The point isn't secrecy for its own sake, but rather ensuring that generosity flows from compassion rather than pride.
Prayer is meant to be an intimate conversation with God, not a public demonstration of piety. Jesus invites us into our inner room, behind a closed door, where pretense falls away and we can be fully ourselves before our Creator.
Fasting is a discipline of the heart, not a badge of honor. When we fast, we're meant to appear normal to others, reserving the true meaning of our sacrifice for God alone.
The Father Who Sees in Secret
Three times in this short passage, Jesus repeats a beautiful promise: "Your Father who sees in secret will reward you." This phrase transforms everything. Our spiritual lives are not lived in isolation or obscurity. We have an attentive Father who sees every hidden act of love, every silent prayer, every sacrifice made without fanfare.
The reward Jesus speaks of isn't a transaction or a merit badge. It's the transformation that happens when our faith becomes authentic, when we stop performing and start truly living in relationship with God.
Living the Secret Life
As we enter this Lenten season, the challenge before us is profound yet simple: to cultivate a faith that doesn't depend on being witnessed by others. This doesn't mean we abandon community or public worship. Rather, it means developing such depth in our private devotion that our public faith becomes a natural overflow rather than a carefully constructed image.
What would it look like to pray when no one is watching? To give without anyone knowing? To make sacrifices that only God sees? These are the questions Ash Wednesday invites us to ponder.
The secret life of faith is where real transformation happens. It's in those unseen moments that our hearts are truly changed, our characters are formed, and our relationship with God deepens.
Today, as we receive ashes on our foreheads, we publicly acknowledge our mortality and our need for God. But the real work of Lent will happen in the quiet places, in the secret rooms of our hearts, where only our Father sees.
May this season be one of authentic encounter rather than empty performance, of genuine transformation rather than outward show. May we discover the reward of being truly seen and truly loved by the One who matters most.