Matthew 6:1-24

1Jesus then said to them, ‘You should do good things to help people. But be careful! Do not do this so that other people see you. If you want other people to praise you, your Father in heaven will not praise you.

2When you give something to a poor person, do not tell anyone about it. The hypocrites do this in their meeting places. They also do it in the busy streets of the town. They do this so that other people will praise them. I tell you this. They have already received their gift. God will not give them anything more.

3So when you give something to a poor person, keep it a secret from other people. Do not tell anyone. Your left hand will not even know what your right hand does!

4Nobody else will know about the good thing that you have done. But God sees the things that you do secretly. In return, he will give you good things.’

5‘Also, you must not pray in the way that the hypocrites pray. They like to stand and pray in their meeting places. They like to do it on the corners of the busy streets. Then many people will see them and they will praise them. I tell you this. They have already received their gift from people. God will not give them anything more.

6But this is how you should pray. Go to a place in your house where you can be alone. You can shut the door and you can pray to God your Father. He is in that secret place. He sees what you do there. He will give you good things in return.

7When you pray, do not say the same words many times. People who do not believe in God do that. They use many words that mean nothing. They think that when they pray like that, their gods will hear them.

8Do not pray like they do. God your Father already knows what you need. He knows this even before you ask him.

9So this is how you should pray: “God, our Father who is in heaven, we want people to give honour to you.

10We want the day when you rule everyone to come soon. We want everyone to obey you on earth, like everyone in heaven obeys you.

11Please give us the food that we need today.

12We have forgiven people who have done wrong things to us. In the same way, please forgive us for the wrong things that we have done.

13Do not let us agree to do wrong things. Keep us safe from Satan.” ’

14Then Jesus said, ‘When other people do wrong things against you, you must forgive them. Then God, your Father in heaven, will also forgive you for the wrong things that you have done.

15But if you do not forgive other people, then your Father will not forgive you.’

16Jesus then said, ‘You may decide to fast for some time. But do not look sad so that people know you are doing a special thing. Hypocrites want people to see how good they are. They make their faces dirty. Then other people can see that they are fasting. I tell you this: people have praised them and that is the only gift that they will get.

17But when you fast for some time, you should wash your face. Make your hair look nice.

18Then other people will not know that you are doing a special thing. But God, your Father, will know. You do not see him but he sees what you do secretly. He will give you good things in return.

19Do not want to have many valuable things here in the world. Insects or water can destroy those kinds of things. Or people may come into your house and they can rob you of those things.

20Instead, you should want to have valuable things in heaven. Insects and water cannot destroy anything there. Men cannot rob you of your things there.

21Then you will be thinking a lot about heaven, because that is where you keep your valuable things.

22Your eyes are like lamps and your body is like a room. Make sure that your eyes are like a clean lamp, then your whole body will have light.

23If your eyes are not good, then your whole body will be in the dark. If the light in you has become dark, you will be living in a very dark place.’

24Jesus said, ‘Nobody can work as a slave for two masters at the same time. Maybe he will hate one of the masters, but he will love the other one. Or he will work well for one master, but he will think bad things about the other master. God and money are like different masters. You cannot work for both of them.