Public vs. Private

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.” Matthew 6:5 NIV

My education background is in accounting. I hold a CPA (inactive) license. Notice that I put inactive in parenthesis. If I hold myself out to be a CPA and do not have an active license that shows I have earned the required continuing education to be active, then I am breaking the rules. Once you pass the CPA exam and obtain a license, then you are required to follow a certain set of rules. These rules require you to hold an active license before you can say you are a CPA in public.

God has some standards for us to follow in public as well. While these same standards also apply to what we do in private, He wants to make sure that what we say and do in public honors Him. Our private and public lives will mirror each other if we are trying to follow God’s standards.

I love facebook. In fact, you could say I’m addicted to it. I love to see what all my “friends” are doing. However, I’ve noticed that sometimes we who profess to be Christians use facebook in a way that is not honoring to God. Spilling all the personal details of our lives to the world is not always a good thing. Then there are times that we use our status updates to either brag about what we are doing or to air our grievances with another person. Many of these things need to be kept private, not made public.

I am constantly editing what I want to share on facebook. I want my posts to be uplifting and encouraging. Not boastful and discouraging. I encourage you to consider your posts before you hit the share button. Is what you’re about to say helpful or hurtful?

Father, show me how to be more encouraging through my public life. Help me to keep private things private and learn how to trust you for all I need.