“Whenever you fast, don’t be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so their fasting is obvious to people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! But when you fast, put oil on your head, and wash your face, so that you don’t show your fasting to people but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness—how deep is that darkness!

“No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money.” (Matthew 6:16–24)

Some people suffer from SOS: shiny object syndrome. They are easily distracted by whatever attractive thing happens to catch their eye. It is a common human failing, of course, an example of our general inability to properly distinguish between what’s best for us, and what will entertain us at this instant. We want to get rich quick. But the quick too often turns out to be nothing more than a shiny bit of glass.

Jesus asked those listening to him during his Sermon on the Mount to consider what motivated their behavior. Why do they do what they do? Are they doing good for God or are they doing good only for themselves? Were they motivated by the desire for the quick payoff? Were they good because of what the neighbors would think? Were they good because of what benefit they could derive from it? If so, Jesus argued that they really weren’t being good at all. Instead, they were simply working for their own selfish ends. They were working for a payment.

Serving God means being concerned with someone besides ourselves. In fact, our own benefit shouldn’t enter into the equation at all. True righteousness means focusing on others and forgetting entirely about what we might get out of it. We cannot be truly righteous if we’re concerned with what we’re going to get out of it too.

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