“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them…”
— Jesus [Matthew 6:1]
“It is better to be than to seem.”
— Socrates
EDNA'S WISDOM
Every night before bed, I read a story with my two oldest kids. We’ve recently read through the Jesus Storybook Bible, Little Pilgrim’s Progress, and now we are wrapping up the kids version of Love Does by Bob Goff. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’ve been getting a lot out of the three page stories.
This past week we read a story that took me back about a decade when I first stumbled upon Bob from a TEDx talk he gave. Both in the story I was reading to my kids, and the TED talk, he begins with the movie The Incredibles. He jumps to the scene where Edna is designing their super suits. She’s brilliant, meticulous, thoughtful, the best in the business. But she has one unwavering rule:
No capes.
She doesn’t care how cool they look. She certainly doesn’t care if they make you feel like a true hero or about the attention they would draw. She is resolute.
No capes.
My son asked me why she didn’t like capes, it didn’t make a lot of sense to a 4 year old who runs around the house at least once a week in his own cape. As I explained it to him, it began to feel like this might be one of the most needed mantras for the Christian life.
THE PERFORMANCE TRAP
I’ve been spending a lot of time in the Sermon on the Mount lately. This past week I’ve been in Matthew 6. As is typical with Jesus, he wastes no time getting to the point. Right out of the gates in verse one he says:
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them…”
Boom. That’s the thesis.
He doesn’t mince words. He doesn’t say “don’t do righteous things.” Rather, as he often does, he moves past the action straight to the motive. Don’t do those things to be seen.
If you’re anything like me, when you really step back and examine your life, it’s uncomfortable how much of it is shaped by that exact motivation.
We don’t just want to be faithful. We want to be noticed for being faithful. We don’t just want to be generous. We want to be seen as generous. We don’t just want to live well. We want others to believe we live well.
We’ve all heard the quote:
“We buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like.”
But if we’re honest, it goes deeper than that. It’s a strange tragedy, we shape our lives around the opinions of people whose lives you wouldn’t trade for your own. We wouldn’t take their advice, but we hope to gain their approval.
CAUGHT IN OUR CAPES
Back to Edna. If you’ve seen the movie, it immediately cuts to a few reasons as to why she doesn’t approve of her heroes wearing capes. Things like getting caught on a missile, pulled through a jet turbine, or sucked into a vortex.
Mr. Incredible isn’t so sure, and often times I think we are in the same boat, justifying our need for our capes. Here is the thing, capes are visible. They catch your eye and draw attention. They associate you with the thing you hope to be: a hero.
We want a cape because we desire the recognition. The affirmation. The approval that shows you’ve got it all under control.
But Jesus flips the entire framework.
He says if your reward is the applause of man…then you better enjoy it. Because that’s all you get. No carryover or compound interest. Just a fleeting moment of recognition.
But if you live for the Father’s approval. If you give, pray, fast, and serve in secret, then something deeper is happening. You turn the eyes of the Father. He sees it firsthand and he promises a reward.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF GREATNESS
Bob Goff’s idea is as simple to say as it is difficult to live by.
Be secretly incredible.
Live a life that is deeply formed even if it’s barely noticed. Every morning wake up and put on an undershirt that says “awesome”. Not so others can see, but as a steady reminder to live in a way that honors the Father while serving and loving those around you.
What if your generosity didn’t need a witness? What if your prayer life didn’t need validation?What if your service didn’t need acknowledgment or your obedience didn’t need an audience?
Maybe that is just the kind of life that Jesus is inviting us into. It’s not smaller. It’s not less meaningful. It’s eternal… and isn’t that the point?
REORIENT YOUR APPROVAL
In writing this, I find myself going back to Galatians 1:10. Few verses sober me up more quickly than it:
“Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
You can’t live for both. One will always win. As Jesus says in Matthew 6, you’ll be devoted to one and despise the other. That’s the scary part. You won’t drift into living for God’s approval. The drift of life will be towards the approval of others and the current of culture is certainly sweeping you that direction.
To be secretly incredible requires intention and awareness. It takes a quiet, consistent, daily reorientation of your heart. That’s why when Jesus teaches us to pray, the first step is to orient our heart to his deity and our relationship with Him. So that as we go about our day, the approval that we seek is from that of the Father.
A FINAL CHARGE
God isn’t in the business of withholding the reward. He is very clear all throughout the chapter that there is indeed a reward. He doesn’t shy away from that, nor does he downplay it.
What he does do, is reframe it. You can take your reward now, or you can store it up forever. One will fade and leave you chasing the wind. The other creates a future inheritance that can never be taken.
So why would we trade eternal reward for temporary applause? Why would we cash out early on something meant to grow forever?
This week I hope you will take off the cape and stop living for the approval of others.
I hope you will step into being secretly incredible.
Serve someone who can’t repay you. Give something anonymously. Pray when no one knows. Love without needing recognition.
The beautiful thing is that the Father sees. And what He sees in secret…He will reward.
No more capes.