Ash Wednesday: Secret Religion

Goes along with Adult Devotion of the same title.

Brag about nothing except God’s forgiveness of your sins.

Read Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18.

Bible Focus: “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” -Matthew 6:3-4

Why did Jesus come to Earth?

Jesus came because of us. We needed him, so he came! We needed him because we are sinners - we do things that God does not want us to do. And no matter how hard we try, we can’t stop committing those sins.

In the Bible passage assigned for today, Ash Wednesday, Jesus is talking about the sin of bragging. Maybe you can think of a time that you’ve bragged about something. You got an A+ on a test, and you showed it off to all of your friends. You scored the winning soccer goal, and you couldn’t stop talking about it in the car all the way home.

In this passage, Jesus is talking about bragging when you’ve done something very religious, like giving to the needy, praying to God, or giving something up for Lent. These are all very good things to do! But when you brag about how well you’re doing them, they become sins, because you’re not doing them for the right reasons. You’re doing them to show off.

Ash Wednesday is a day when we remember our sins. We remember what we’ve done wrong, and how much we need Jesus. Jesus came to Earth to forgive our sins, and he helps us do religious things for the right reasons - because they are good things to do.

Your challenge this week:

Do a good deed this week, something that you normally wouldn’t do. Don’t tell anyone else about it.

Please pray:

Dear Jesus, you are perfect and have never sinned. I confess that I am a sinner. I thank you for forgiving me even though I sin. I ask that you would help me to do good deeds for the right reasons. In your name I pray, Amen.