A Fine Line

   If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it really make a noise?

   If I write a blog post, and there is no one reading it, is it worthwhile? Or, in other words, why do it?

   Now, I go back to my original intent of this whole exercise, namely a written record of my attempts to draw closer to God, and to see how He is working in my life. It was to be between God and I, but then I thought that someone else might benefit from my struggles in this area and be encouraged to know that they were not alone in this.

   Every once in a while, not a regular occurrence for sure, someone will make a comment on a particular post, or simply click on the "like" button on the facebook page, and I admit that I do like to know someone is out there, but is that a sufficient reason to write?

   Today, I read in The Message, the passage in Matthew 6 where Jesus is teaching the crowds on the mountainside like this:

   "Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding. ^2-4"When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself. You've seen them in action, I'm sure—'playactors' I call them— treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that's all they get. When you help someone out, don't think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively."

   And again, later in the same passage:

   ⁵"And when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?

 ⁶"Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace."

   I believe that my motives for all of this are right, most of the time, but it is very easy to slip over the line into pride when some human praise comes around. When I read, at the end of this same passage:

   "God doesn't require attention-getting devices."

   I pray that this effort in writing does not classify as one of these.