I found the words of Jesus to be quite convicting Monday morning.
 
Our Daily Reading Plan brought us to Jesus in Matthew 23. Jesus was confronted in the Temple by all the highest of high religious leaders. Jesus called out these leaders for their hypocrisy. He said to the crowd and His disciples about these religious teachers of the Law…
 

So practice and obey whatever they tell you,
but don’t follow their example.
For they don’t practice what they teach.
Matthew 23:3 (NLT)

 
Hypocrisy. Publicly saying one thing and privately doing another. Jesus did not use the word here. At this point, He simply offered the definition.
 
Jesus was revealing what the religious leaders were hiding. He was making clear to the crowd what no one could imagine. The religious leaders did not have integrity. They enjoyed the pomp, authority, and power of their position. They viewed themselves as God’s representatives. They did not practice what they taught.
 
They studied the Law. They did not obey the Law.
 
They learned God’s Word. They did not live God’s Word.

Jesus would repeatedly call them “Hypocrites!” later in the chapter (Tuesday’s read). He would offer up anecdotes and word pictures to describe their behavior. Jesus has a strong distaste for hypocrisy. He calls His followers to holy living.
 
We have the privilege of possessing God’s Word. We are seeking to be immersed in it that we might be transformed by it. Hypocrisy is an issue with which all of us can identify. In our flesh, we can certainly fail to obey God’s Word. But we do not have to stay there.
 
I encourage you to be real. Don’t hide behind spiritual words and a brain dripping with knowledge. Don’t give the perception of godliness simply because you know a great deal. Instead, choose to make the members of your body instruments of righteousness under the guidance and strength of the Holy Spirit. Set your trajectory on obedience.
 
May Jesus lift you up as one who strives to do as He says.
 
Love and blessings,
Dave