Hypocrisy

Jesus minced no words when addressing Pharisees and religious teachers. Calling them “show-offs” and “blind leaders,” he blasted them for false teaching. He also confronted them for their legalism, specifically, paying tithes to God from their herb gardens while failing to teach and practice spiritual truths such as mercy, faithfulness, and justice.

Christ called the spiritual leaders to accountability for their hypocrisy.

Vision Problems

I am near-sighted, which is to say that I can well see things that are right in front of my face, while anything more than about ten feet away becomes distorted and unclear. Without the corrective vision provided by my glasses, I would have a hard time making my way in life.

Clearness of vision is critically important to the servant of Christ.

Catch 22

The Pharisees think that they have Jesus in a Catch 22 situation. If Jesus fails to have the woman caught in adultery stoned he will be disobeying the law, but if he does have her stoned his message of love will be compromised in the eyes of the people. They’re sure they have him. But Jesus does something that turns the tables.

Read More compassion, judging, hypocrisy

A Name Is Not Enough

Not all that glitters is gold. We may have noble origins, steeped faith, renown and reputation. We may have a name, but does it mean anything?

Ignorance is no excuse in law. Yet greater knowledge demands greater responsibility, higher standards. “They should know better.” Judah was the largest tribe, home to the Temple and guardian of the Law of Moses.

Read More wickedness, judgment, hypocrisy

Talk is Cheap

The thing about taking a shortcut that diminishes quality, like putting a cheap glaze on a clay pot, is that it always gets found out eventually. In other versions of this text, the pot is cheap but the glaze covers it to make it look expensive. Either way, a corner’s been cut and the quality isn’t as good as it could be.

Who are you to judge?

These words were written a long time ago at a time when the author’s environment was markedly different from ours. In spite of all these differences and all the changes that have occurred over the past centuries, what Agur describes here clearly shows that the heart of man has not really changed at all.

Love Out of Your Authentic Self

There are four Greek words that in English we simply translate “love”. Two are in this passage: “Be sincere in your love for others” and “love each other as brothers and sisters”. The first is agape which is unconditional love (the love God has for us), and the second is philia (where we get “Philadelphia”) which is brotherly love.