Focus: Luke 11:39 - KJV
39. And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
Matthew 23:23-28
One of the greatest offending things that is found in the church today is hypocrisy. There are those who project themselves as being godly, invite others to do things which they themselves do not, and tend to chastise those who, like them, are in error without them being punished or reprimanded in any way. They preach forgiveness but never forgive; they preach purity but are impure as they set snares for their perceived adversaries to fall into rather than prepare a way for correcting in love and winning the person back into the fold. They, like the scribes and the pharisees of old, are whited sepulchers in that they appear good on the outside but their inside is full of mess. Ironically, all their theatrics do not fool God as He sees the dirt in their inside glaringly. Even every thought that they carry in their hearts are known to God and He sees them from afar before they begin to implement their evil ploy. They are full of ravening and wickedness on the inside but feign smiles and happiness on the outside. Imagine Saul of Tarsus: he deemed it right to kill people for whom and what they believed, whereas his own conduct and actions were also borne out of a belief which ultimately, he found to be inadequate. He eradicated witches and mediums but ended up consulting one. So are many today in the body: even though they are wrong in their beliefs, they seek to demonize and possibly annihilate others for their beliefs. Ravening and wicked.
Life is a journey; and only those whom the Lord approves are judged successful in the journey. The way to success is in obedience to Christ. Every member of the body is expected to be robed in glorious garments that are without spot or wrinkle. When you carry wickedness on the inside, it is worse than a spot or a wrinkle. God will judge the hearts and that is why He says lustful looks are conclusive sins. Calling out fornicators and adulterers; or thieves and murderers, when you are equally in it, is simply hypocrisy. God hates hypocrisy. And since we all are works in progress, isn’t it more important to focus on working out our own salvation with fear and trembling than bothering on who is doing wrong things and who is not? It is a good thing for people to bring all the tithe into the storehouse as commanded by scripture. But when those who are placed as policemen for the collection of the tithes now become the thieves of it and emptying the storehouse into their own barns even though they appear to observers as great tithers knowing how they will syphon it back to source, then the whole process is flawed. Yet, the Lord is watching. He knows them that are truly serving Him. Let us be careful not to be seen as whited sepulchers by the Lord. As we wash the outside (i.e. our appearance) clean, let us also be clean on the inside so that the Lord will see our cleanliness.
Father, you saw the heart of David and appointed him as captain over your people; please from today, help us to be clean both on the inside and the outside that we may also be counted worthy of being captains of your flock, in Jesus’ name. Keep us away from internal filth that we may never operate in the place of the scribes and pharisees whom you called hypocrites, in Jesus’ name. Forgive all our past hypocritical acts and please grant us a new lease that we may operate henceforth, under the guidance of your Spirit, in cleanliness, in Jesus’ name. Do not let the enemy ask where the Lord we serve is, dear Lord, in Jesus’ name. In all, help us to finish strong and well in you, in Jesus’ name.
SOLUTION: Stop pretending to be who you are not, holding blood within and spitting plain spittle in pretense. It is better never to have blood on the inside than to keep pretending. Cleanse your inside of every blood retained in it. Let it be cleaner than snow where practicable. So that the one who judges the inside will find you worthy and holy.
If you are blessed by this post, kindly share with your contacts, as well as others, that they may be blessed also. Thank you and may God bless you abundantly as you do so, in Jesus’ name.
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