Welcome to this Daily PPJ Devotional. Read Matthew 6. Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. 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 what is done in secret, will reward you. 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. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is unseen. And your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that their many words will be heard. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. So then, this is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours. When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your father, who is unseen. And your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and dust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow, they do not labor or spin. Yet, I tell you that not even Solomon, in all his glory, was adorned like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here to-day, and to-morrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself, today has enough trouble of its own. This is God's Word. In verses 19 through 21, Jesus talked about materialism. He concluded that section in verse 21 by saying, For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. In verse 24, he talked about money and concluded that verse by saying, You cannot serve both God and money. In between those two passages of Scripture, we find verses 22 and 23. They're between those passages about materialism in verses 19 through 21 and the section on money in verse 21. Money and materialism are related ideas. So when we read that middle section, verses 22 and 23, about the eye being the lamp of the body, it seems clear that Jesus is still talking about money and materialism. So what are verses 22 and 23 telling us about money and materialism? Like windows, your eyes let inside whatever light or darkness is outside. If your eyes work properly, your whole body benefits, because your eyes will tell you when to duck before you hit your head, or when to step over a shoe that was left in the floor. Without working eyesight, your whole body will be, as Jesus said in verse 23, full of darkness. You will stumble over everything and bang your noggin on anything that is hanging too low. What determines where your heart is, as verse 21 puts it? Or whether you hate one master and love another? The answer is whatever your eye focuses on. And so the point of verses 22 and 23 then, is to be careful what holds your concentration. If you spend your time looking at catalogs of expensive watches, browsing elegant homes online that are for sale, looking at the pay scale for jobs on LinkedIn, for a job that will pay more than yours does, or test driving new cars all the time, you will start to treasure money and material things. If you focus on material things and money, that focus shows what you love and also feeds that love at the same time. If you focus on Jesus, however, your love will change too. you will think less about expensive new shoes and more about how to serve the Lord. So the bottom line is, watch what you watch. That's the message of Matthew 6, 19-24. If you thought this devotional was helpful, go to my website, dailypbj.com, slash subscribe, enter your email address to receive these in your email every day. Please consider supporting me financially. If you would like to see this continue, go to dailypbj.com slash support. And please share this with someone else who might be helped in their spiritual life by it. And I'll see you next time. May God bless you. Hope you have a great day today.