TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2015.
HYPOCRISY
The false profession of desirable or publically approved qualities, beliefs or feelings; a pretense of having virtues, moral principles, or religious beliefs that one does not really possess.
For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautifully outwardly, but inside are full of all uncleanness. Matthew 23:27.
You might wonder why we picked the word HYPOCRISY to talk about the day after Thanksgiving. Our response is simple. We wonder how many people give thanks to God for their blessings received from Him. We are concerned that all across the world we live in that people are turning away from the Biblical principles outlined for us in the scriptures. For example, here in America statistics were just released telling us that more people are going to churches today than ever before but a much smaller number are considered what we might call evangelical -- one that believes and teaches that Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins, rose again and is in heaven today preparing a place for us to spend eternity.
Thus, we must make the conclusion that these church attenders are hypocrites because they want to give the impression they believe in God but leave the church and live anyway they want too.
Simply said, hypocrisy is saying one thing and doing another. Hypocrisy is rampant today. One example is the political leaders here in America. They campaign to win their office promising all the right things that people want and then win and do the things that benefits their own interests and not the people that elected them into office.
But even worse is the hypocrisy we see in some Christian leaders and many who claim to be Christians. In Matthew 23, Jesus called out the spiritual leaders of that day on their hypocrisy. Three times Jesus said to them, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites.”
Many Pharisees took pride, in Jesus day, in showing off their spirituality in public. Jesus knew, as did many others, that on the inside they were guilty of many secret sins. Because of their hypocrisy, Jesus compared them to “whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are unclean (Numbers 19:16).
We are often tempted to cultivate a false image for others to see in our lives. But we need to remember, we may fool our family and friends but we will never fool God. God does not look at our outward appearance, He knows our heart. When hypocrisy begins to seep into our lives we, as believers, need to open our heart to God’s Word, read it and then pray, confessing our sin so God can, through His Holy Spirit open our heart and conform us to His image. Remember, you can hide your hypocrisy from others but you cannot hide it from God.
Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 26:2:
Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.
It is my prayer that You will daily lead and guide me in all of my words and deeds so that others will see You in my life, not in just what I say but in what I do. May I be an example to those who are living a hypocritical life so that they will be drawn to You for leading and guidance in their lives.
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