Love and Hypocrisy

"He who does not have love is like a clanging gong." "Obedience is better than sacrifice." "I leave you this command, that you love one another." -Jesus. God delights in the prayers of the Godly, but one cannot be Godly unless he loves others. To add emphasis to prayer, many Christians fast. But fasting is completely pointless if we do not love one another. That (acts of devotion and obedience without love) is called hypocrisy, and God hates hypocrisy. Oh, how he hates it! Jesus directed a long tirade-7 woes-to the religious hypocrites in Matthew 23. It doesn't matter how many things you do in Jesus' name. If you fail to love Him and his precious and dearly bought children, He will deny you at the end, and condemn you with the words, "I never knew you."

May God keep me and all of His children from this most heinous of sins.

THOMAS WATSON ON HYPOCRISY

"The hypocrite does the devil a double service; under the visor of piety, he can sin more and be suspected less. Who would think that those who pray so many hours on end could be guilty of extortion? Who would suspect of false weights the man who has the Bible so often in his hand? Hypocrites are the worst sort of sinners; they reflect infinite dishonour upon religion. One scandalous hypocrite makes all the world suspect that professing Christians are all like him. The hypocrite was born to spite religion and bring it into disrepute.
The hypocrite is a liar. He worships God with his knee, but his passions with his heart.
The hypocrite is an impudent sinner. He knows his heart is false, yet he goes on. All the plagues and curses written in the Book of God are the hypocrite's portion; hell is his place of rendezvous. Hypocrites are the chief guests the devil expects, and he will make them as welcome as fire and brimstone can." The Godly Man's Picture 1666


Mr. M. and I watched Lakeview Terrace the other night, a movie about a corrupt cop. This guy's family was falling apart, and he took it out on the people he was sworn to "protect and serve." Aside from spiritual hypocrisy, this was an excellent example of civil hypocrisy. A man protecting and serving the people, while making trouble in his own family.