A few years ago, I heard a pastor confess his struggle with hypocrisy. As his congregation was preparing to host a midweek conference, the pastor noticed a bunch of bulletins left behind from the previous Sunday. So he began to go back and forth through the aisles, picking up the stray papers, a job the church janitor or a volunteer might do. But he confessed that, almost instantly, this thought popped into his mind: I hope someone sees this. He hoped that someone would just happen to walk by and say, “Pastor? Is that you picking up bulletins? How kind of you!”

Ever been there? Doing the right thing—serving selflessly at church, giving generously to a charity, loving sacrificially in your family—is hard. But doing the right thing for the right reason—for God’s glory, for others’ good, and not for attention or praise—is even harder. Yet despite the difficulty, we must fight the desire to put on a show, because Jesus hates hypocrisy.

How do we resist that temptation? By remembering the God who sees. Jesus taught, “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” (Matthew 6:6). 

God will see you and reward you with his full attention. And that is the greatest gift of all.