God-Focus or Self-Focus?

February 6

In Matthew 6, Jesus provides a stark contrast between the attitudes of the Jewish leaders and His own. He speaks of giving, praying, and fasting on one hand, then possessions and anxiety about provisions on the other. But, if we boil down the entire chapter, we immediately see the division: self-centeredness and God-centeredness.

In the first section on giving, praying, and fasting, Jesus points out that the leaders give, pray, and fast for the approval of people. He concludes that if that’s the reward they’re after, then they’ll get exactly what they’re seeking—but not God’s approval. Why? Because when it comes to attracting God’s attention, we will be seen and rewarded by Him for what we do in secret—not what we do to be seen and recognized by others.

Next, the Lord lays out the model prayer, which we have previously dubbed “the Disciples’ Prayer,” rather than the common name, “The Lord’s Prayer.” In that prayer, everything is God-focused; there is little focus on the pray-er. Even then, that focus centers on requests for minimal, necessary needs.

Finally, Jesus turns to possessions and provisions and highlights that one can either have a God-focus or a self-focus. In both possessions and provisions, though, He notes two important things that can lead our hearts to a place of deep freedom, if we lay hold of what He’s saying:

1.) God owns everything, and…

2.) He will provide what His people need.

That means there is no need for us to hoard possessions. Instead, we can work for those things which truly matter on the other side of eternity, rather than the temporary things which are on this side of eternity. If God is good, Jesus is saying, then He will provide what His people need. Therefore, there is never any reason to be anxious!

Application

If we truly believe that God provides the possessions and provisions we need, then why would we feel compelled to parade in front of people like the Jewish leaders, trying to “prove” how holy we are because of what we give or how much, what we pray or how long, or what we sacrifice or how often? And, why would we worry about hoarding temporary stuff, and how we’re going to manage our basic needs?

Well, it might be an uncomfortable thought, but the reason we feel compelled to “prove” our holiness or worry about possessions and provisions comes down to one thing: we don’t trust God. If we did, we wouldn’t seek the approval of people, and we wouldn’t fall into the trap of dwelling on what we can do for ourselves.

Let God be God. We don’t glorify Him when we don’t rely on Him to take care of our needs. In that approach, we’re basically telling God, “I don’t need you. I can do this by myself.” If God provides for His people, however, then we actually glorify Him when we ask Him to provide.

© Copyright 2026 Craig Beaman