Scripture

“These people honour me with their lips

but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship is a farce,

for they teach man- made ideas as commands from God.”

Observation

Some Pharisees criticise Jesus because His disciples ignore the traditions about ceremonial hand washing prior to eating.

Jesus replies by asking them why they violate God’s law with their own traditions. He goes on to quote Isaiah who condemned people for honouring God with their lips, but having cold hearts towards Him.

Jesus tells the crowd to ignore the Pharisees. They are blind leaders of the blind. The Father will uproot them because they were not planted by Him.

Application

Hypocrisy is a real temptation for everyone who seeks to follow the Lord.

It is also very easy to accuse other people of hypocrisy, and people do make that kind of smear all the time about christians. We need to make sure that our hearts are indeed right with the Lord.

God does not judge those who sincerely love Him but don’t always get it right. That applies to all of us!

What angers God as much as anything else is self-righteous hypocrisy. This is where we pat ourselves on the back for being much better than other people, while covering up our own sins.

What God wants is a heart that is soft towards Him, a heart of love for the Lord. Such a person, He will not reject.

Prayer

Thank you Father for the assurance that I do not have to be perfect, just humble towards you and other people. Give me grace Lord to rise above hypocrisy. Amen.