This Sunday – April 14

This Sunday – April 14

On a bike ride this week my friend and I took a route that would bring us down the long hill instead of up. It is a brutal hill, not just steep, but long.  You go around a curve twice only to  discover that it keeps going.

Shortly after coming down it we saw a group of about twenty riders approaching – did I say approaching? – I meant flying towards us from the other direction.

They were headed toward the hill.

After they passed my friend said, “They probably don’t think we’re real men because we came down instead of up.”

Knowing that my sermon this Sunday was going to be about some stern warnings that Jesus issued concerning caring what others think, the comment struck me. But, before I had time to judge my friend for being so self-conscious I replied, “It would have been worse if we had been going up and they had flown by us.”

Appearances. Positioning. Posturing.

Why are the opinions of others so critical to us? What are things we do to make sure we look good?

What good things do we not do in order to avoid the risk of looking bad?

How stressed are we to keep it up?

At the Gathering Church this Sunday I will teach from Matthew 6:1-18 continuing the series, At Hand: Jesus’ Teaching on Living Well.

What happens when we’re free enough for God’s opinion to matter most?

This Sunday.