Thursday, March 27, 2025

Listen to the Word

You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Matthew 15:7-8)

Jesus showed all kinds of patience and grace to all kinds of sinners. But the sin that he most consistently blasted with both barrels was hypocrisy. He is not a fan of our attempts to pose as something we are not. We aren’t good enough actors to fool him. He prefers an honest sinner over a fake saint.

In today’s Scripture, Jesus provides a helpful working definition of hypocrisy: a hypocrite is someone with a chasm between their lips and their heart. Hypocrisy is a lack of alignment between who we claim to be with our words and who we actually are in our character. It is the façade of holiness over a rotten core.

Live the Word

Ask Jesus to help you avoid pretending today – with him, and with those around you. Ask him to bring your heart closer to him so that your spiritual words won’t have to be an act.