In Matthew 6:5, Jesus teaches, "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full."
Years ago, I knew a pastor's wife who bragged - more than once - "Sometimes I am walking downtown, and I get so overwhelmed by God's goodness that I just drop down on my knees right there on the sidewalk and start praying to Jesus. I just wave my arms and pray, and people are walking or driving by me, but I don't care who sees me or what they think."
She was one of the most insincere people I have ever met. Nobody was fooled.
Here is the sneaky thing about self-righteousness: it allows the pretense of holiness to remain even as we disobey God's commands.
*****
“Prayer is the lifting
up of the heart to God: All words of prayer, without this, are mere hypocrisy.” - John Wesley
No comments:
Post a Comment