THE NIGHT NO ONE CAME - All Our Daily Bread Daily Devotionals for 2026

Our Daily Bread - Wednesday, January 6, 2016
by RBC Ministries

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THE NIGHT NO ONE CAME

READ:

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
-Matthew 6:1

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Genesis 16-17
Matthew 5:27-48

One winter night, composer Johann Sebastian Bach was scheduled to debut a new composition. He arrived at the church expecting it to be full. Instead, he learned that no one had come. Without missing a beat, Bach told his musicians that they would still perform as planned. They took their places, Bach raised his baton, and soon the empty church was filled with magnificent music.
This story made me do some soul-searching. Would I write if God were my only audience? How would my writing be different?
New writers are often advised to visualise one person they are writing to as a way of staying focussed. I do this when I write devotionals; I try to keep readers in mind because I want to say something they will want to read and that will help them on their spiritual journey.
I doubt that the "devotional writer" David, whose psalms we turn to for comfort and encouragement, had "readers" in mind. The only audience he had in mind was God.
Whether our "deeds," mentioned in Matthew 6, are works of art or acts of service, we must keep in mind that they are really between us and God. Whether or not anyone else see does not matter. He is our audience. - Julie Ackerman Link
That my ways might show forth Your glory,
That You, dear Lord, greatly deserve!
With Your precious blood You've redeemed me -
In all my ways, You I would serve! - Somerville

Serve for an audience of one.

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