The world is not a stage.

An Ash Wednesday reading from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter six on the Daily Bible refresh with Dr.

Brad Miller.

Hello good people.

Welcome to Daily Bible Refresh with Dr.

Brad Miller.

So pleased that you joined me here today on this quest to get the audible voice of God from the Holy Bible into 2 million years by 2028.

This is the Ash Wednesday reading in the year C of a three year cycle that we take from the Revised Common Lecture.

That means this is the start of the Lenten season.

We'll say more about Ash Wednesday here in our lesson here.

Today we look to make the reading of the Bible, the hearing of the word understandable.

We use the New Testament, the message version relatable.

We give you some points to ponder applicable.

We give you an action step, a special one for today.

We have a prayer and we do all of that in under 10 minutes.

It's all brought to you by Voice of God Daily, the home of the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible study method.

Let's get into our reading today from Matthew's sixth chapter reading from the Message.

The world is not a stage.

Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so you don't make a performance out of it.

It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding.

When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself.

You've seen them in action, I'm sure.

Play actors, I call them.

Treating prayer meeting and a 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.

That is the way to your God who conceived you in love.

Working behind the scenes helps you out.

Pray with simplicity.

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 15 minutes of fame.

Do you think God sits in a box seat?

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.

The focus will shift from you to God and you will begin to sense his grace.

When you practice some appetite denying discipline, do better.

Concentrate on God.

Don't make a production out of it.

It might turn you into a small time celebrity, but it won't make you a saint.

If you go into training inwardly act normal outwardly.

Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face.

God doesn't require attention getting devices.

He won't overlook what you are doing.

He'll reward you well.

A life of God worship.

Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moss and corroded by rust or worse, stolen by burglars.

Stockpile treasure in heaven where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars.

It's obvious, isn't it?

The place where your treasure is is the place you most want it to be and end up being wow.

Incredible reading here.

And it applies here as we start this Lenten season on this day that we call Ash Wednesday.

Because we're talking here about authentic spirituality, authentic spirituality even in a performance culture.

And we really explore here and go deep on Jesus teaching about authenticity in a world obsessed by performance and public validation.

Here's some points to ponder the Commodification of Compassion Jesus's critique of what he calls in this passage in the message version, play actors feels particularly relevant in our social media age, where acts of kindness are often turned into viral content.

When helping others becomes content for our personal brand, we risk turning human dignity into a commodity.

This challenges us to examine how capitalism and consumer culture have infiltrated even our most sacred acts of service.

True compassion often happens in spaces where no cameras roll, no likes are counted, and no personal benefit is gained.

Another point is decolonizing prayer.

The instruction to pray in secret reminds us of, which is a radical departure from both ancient and even modern religious performances.

In a world where public prayers are often used to assert political power or religious supremacy, private prayer is an act of resistance.

It strips away the colonial and imperial aspects of religion that seek to dominate public spaces and instead creates room for authentic, unmediated connection with God.

One more point, Redefining treasure.

Jesus teaching here about treasure isn't just about material possessions, it's about reimagining value itself in our climate crisis era, this text calls us to question the extraction that economics prioritize accumulation over sustainability.

Stockpiling treasure in heaven is what it says here might mean investing in community and justice and ecology and healing in those ways, rather than personal wealth accumulation.

So let's talk about some acts here on this Ash Wednesday, some action steps.

This is Ash Wednesday and this is the beginning of the Lenten season, which is a time of reflection and renewal between now and Easter Sunday and ashes are a symbol of mortality and a need for transformation through a spiritual practice.

Many people in a time of worship On Ash Wednesday, take a bit of ashes that are smudged on the forehead of someplace else on the body.

Perhaps you've been to a worship experience today where that happened.

If not, I would encourage you to make a practice of finding a place to get a little dirty, that is find a place to smudge yourself.

Get some dirt from somewhere.

You could do it around your house or your car.

You know that you can go under a table or someplace and get a little smudge of dirt in your finger and put on your forehead as a reminder that you are a mortal being.

It is a little bit about getting dirty here and understand from dust we have come and to dust we will return.

And it's a spiritual practice then of making ourself more understanding our mortality and then the need for new and eternal life.

I'd also like to invite you to participate in the practice of prayer and fasting.

Make that a point during the Lenten season.

Not only the prayer part is to make a point to have a quiet time as I talked about in the scriptures here today, where you really focus on God.

Perhaps you listen to the daily Bible refresh and get into your ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible study guide as a way of helping you there's but also have some time of quiet in prayer.

I also invite you to have a time of fasting that is denying yourself some form of pleasure, a good thing in your life in order to remind you of the sacrifices that were made on your behalf by Jesus Christ.

I would encourage you to do this in at least two ways.

One is to abstain from some form of food or drink that might mean skipping a meal once a day, or it might be just not getting soft drinks or alcohol.

Something where you deny yourself something you might normally have as a part of your life and during that time remind yourself about what you that you give up is just minuscule compared to sacrifices made on your behalf.

Now, if you want to give a social justice aspect of that, you may want to take whatever money you might have spent on food or drink and apply that to charity in some form or another.

Then I'd also like to invite you to have a fasting of some practice in your life, something that you do that you enjoy or take pleasure in that you can give up.

This might mean an example.

This would be giving up social media.

I invite you to practice and take action here on this Ash Wednesday and all through this Lenten season of year C that we are having and of course follow along with us every day here in the daily Bible refresh.

We're going to pray here in just a moment, but I did want to remind you that one of the great resources that we have is the ABC123 Bible Study Guide, which you can get at our website, Voice of God Daily.

It'll help you in this whole process of a daily spiritual, prayerful practice.

Let's pray.

Oh, God, you are the source of authentic love.

And a world of filters and performance help us to find the courage to be real.

When we're tempted to turn compassion into content, remind us that love needs no audience.

When our prayers become performances, guide us back to quiet spaces of truth.

When we're seduced by the treasure of status and likes, show us that the lasting worth of justice and community is among us.

Free us from the need to prove our goodness.

Release us from the addiction to approval and ground us in the quiet certainty that your love requires no validation.

Help us create a world where kindness flows freely without the need for applause and where justice works continually even though no one is watching.

Amen.

Hey.

What a pleasure to be with you here on this Ash Wednesday and look forward to being with you every day of Lent here in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.

I'll be with you again tomorrow as we continue this Lenten journey.

Journey.

Now let's go on into together.

Until next time, remember, My name is Dr.

Brad Miller.

I'm here with you every day at Voice of God daily.

And remember that God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up.

It's created new every morning.

Sa.