Matthew 15:8 “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me”

Outward appearances can be deceiving when it comes to what people do. When a person puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion or when a person acts contrary to his or her own stated beliefs, we call that person a hypocrite.

Our English word “hypocrite” comes from the Greek word, which means “to be an actor.” An actor is merely playing a part and pretending to be something he or she is not.

Appearances can also be deceiving when it comes to what people say as well. It’s not hard to find hypocrisy at every level of government and sadly enough even behind some pulpits in our churches today.

While we may be fooled by outward appearances and by what people say, God’s inspired word states clearly that Jesus isn’t fooled by outward appearances, He can see through our masks of hypocrisy and He certainly isn’t fooled by lip service.

While we might be fooled by what people do and their fine-sounding phrases, God is not. Let God’s unconditional love give you an opportunity to speak from the abundance of the human heart, which can’t be disguised by holy actions or hidden from God behind a lot of pious-sounding words.

Challenge for Today: You may fool your friends, your co-workers and even your pastor, but you can not fool God!