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Hypocrisy and Self-Delusion
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Matthew 5:14-16 You are the light that shines for the world to see. You are like a city built on a hill that cannot be hidden. People don’t hide a lamp under a bowl. They put it on a lampstand. Then the light shines for everyone in the house. In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven
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Download audio fileHypocrisy and self-delusion go hand in hand. To the rest of us, someone whose actions don’t match their words is exactly what he or she seems – a hypocrite. But on the inside, more often than not, that hypocrisy is fuelled by self-delusion – they look in the mirror but remain completely blind to their plight.
In my view, the worst sort of hypocrite is a religious one. And that’s just not my opinion. Jesus absolutely tore shreds off the hypocritical religious leaders of His day. And you don’t have to look very far to see that for many so-called Christians, nothing’s changed. Franciscan Friar Richard Rohr puts it like this:
Christianity is a lifestyle – a way of being in the world that’s simple, non-violent, shared and loving. However, we’ve made it into an established “religion” (and all that goes with that) and avoided the lifestyle change itself. One could be warlike, greedy, racist, selfish and vain in most of Christian history, and yet still believe that Jesus is one’s “personal Lord and Saviour”. The world has no time for such silliness anymore. The suffering on this Earth is too great.
Speaking into this disconnect between faith and actions, Jesus said this:
Matthew 5:14-16 You are the light that shines for the world to see. You are like a city built on a hill that cannot be hidden. People don’t hide a lamp under a bowl. They put it on a lampstand. Then the light shines for everyone in the house. In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.
Unless we are that light, you and I, we’re deluding ourselves. Don’t be that hypocrite.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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