{Matthew 15:8-9} These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
Hypocrite: one who pretends to be what he is not, acting the part of being close to God when in reality your heart is very far from Him. {Matt. 15:8}
The Seven Habits
1. Making salvation as complicated as possible. {Matt. 23:13}
2. Getting what I need from people even if it hurts them. {Matt. 23:14-15}
• To be indifferent to the impact our conduct has on others makes us a hypocrite. {James 3:1}
3. Squirming my way out of a promise I don't want to keep. {Matt. 23:16-17}
• If you give your word, keep it. If you make a promise, keep it.
4. Making a big deal out of little things and ignoring the important things. {Matt. 23:23-24}
• Justice: doing what's right. {Micah 6:8}
• Mercy: going a little easier on people. {James 2:13}
• Faithfulness: keep going. {Matt. 23:23-24}
5. Exhibiting laziness in all matters of the heart. {Matt. 23:25-26}
• Being lazy in the matters of the heart means to be unwilling to expend your energy on things that matter the most.
• Greed: I can't get enough {Matt. 23:25}
• Self-indulgence: to have no restraint in the consumption of what I have. {Psalm 62:10}
• We are who we are when no one can see us. That's the true you.
6. Looking good to others, no matter what the cost. {Matt. 23:27-28}
7. Pretending to be better than others, no matter what the evidence. {Matt. 23:29-36}
• A lifetime of unrepented hypocrisy reveals that a person has never need truly born again. {Matt. 23:37-38}
This is a sin everyone struggles with in different ways. You must discover for yourself how God wants you to deal with your own version of hypocrisy. Here is a challenge for the week. Identify one of the seven habits of hypocrisy that you struggle with and keep a special eye on it this week. See what God does!
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