And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Have you ever run into someone who decides to talk to you in a crowd, starts engaging in a conversation with you and, before you know it, they see someone else they want to talk to more and leave you mid-sentence? It’s like you didn’t even matter.

Now if this person they passed you over for was the President of the United States, you might decide to give them some grace, right? But if they did that all the time with all kinds of people, you would not really want to talk to them much, would you?

Now when we think about what these “pray-for-show” prayers were doing, it is both similar and different. It is similar in that they were praying to God technically, but their performance was for the people around them to marvel at. And it is different because usually if someone of higher authority has a conversation with you, you do not disengage to talk to someone of no authority.

Here they are, talking to the God of the universe, and yet their focus and attention is on the people who have little authority around them. They are foolish!

There are some of these “professional prayers” with lots of fancy words around today, as well. Do not follow them; they have selfish motives.

Instead, Jesus instructs us to pray in our closet and to be direct. We are to respect the authority of our God and give him all of our focus. We are to remember that God is omniscient and already knows what we need.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for calling out these arrogant and disrespectful prayers. Keep me humble and respectful in my prayers to you.