Lent@Landmark: Day 3

We don’t do much sacrificing or suffering in silence these days. On social media we can share a hardship and almost instantly get a deluge of sympathy and love in the comments and reactions of our friends or followers.

When it comes to the sacrifices we make as a part of our discipleship, Jesus asks us to take a different approach. Consider Matthew 6:1-2.

"Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.

The reward for our faithfulness to sacrifice for the Kingdom of God is not supposed to be pats on the back or sympathy for the hardship. The reward is the refining effect that sacrifice has on us and on the world around us. If that isn’t enough for us, we have further yet to grow.