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Key Bible Verse: "Don't be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly … where everyone can see them" (Matthew 6:5). Bonus Reading:Matthew 6:5-6

Talk show host Phil Donahue has been known to give the clergy a hard time. But in his autobiography he recalls one pastor with respect. As a young TV reporter in Ohio, Donahue was sent to West Virginia to cover a mine disaster. When he arrived at the minehead, the families of the trapped miners were gathered—women, old men, and children. But it was so cold his minicam wouldn't work. So Donahue put it inside his coat to warm it up.

Meanwhile, the roughhewn local pastor arrived, gathered the families in a circle and, with unpolished diction, prayed for them as they held one another in their arms. Donahue was incredibly frustrated because he couldn't film this poignant scene.

Finally, after the prayer was over, he got his camera operating. So he told the pastor it was working now and would he please pray again so he could film it for the evening news. Donahue says that the world's best-known public figures, including preachers, are all willing to redo a scene in order to get on the news.

This preacher told Donahue, "Young man, we don't pray for the news. I'm sorry, but we've already prayed, and I'll not pose."

My Response: For whose approval are my actions tailored? To what extent?

Thought to Apply: If you just set out to be liked, you'd be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you'd achieve nothing.

—Margaret Thatcher

Adapted from Being Holy, Being Human (Bethany, 1998) by permission

Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Father, give me understanding of when I need to stand on principle, and the courage to follow through.

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