“Hypocrite” Part 2

Dear God, I had a weird kind of thing happen yesterday that I think was orchestrated by you. First, someone “liked” one of my prayer journals from last summer called “Hypocrite.” I went back and read it because I had forgotten about it. It was a good reminder.

THEN, the Bible Project Podcast did an episode this week called “What did Hypocrite Mean to Jesus?” It blew my mind, and it made my prayer journal from last summer appear to be so ignorant and uneducated. It humbled me, but in a good way (maybe being humbled is always good). So what did they say that changed my mind? Well, they redefined hypocrite for me, and it changed my perspective on Jesus’s use of the word.

I looked up the definition of hypocrite on Merriam-Webster and found this:

1: a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion

2: a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

Typically, we use the second definition, but the guys on Bible Project said the first one is what Jesus meant when he used it. It is not the “do as I say, not as I do” definition, but the definition where they hypocrite intentionally displays righteous acts for the honor that people will give them. They made several points, but a couple that stuck were:

• The person who does good deeds for the praise of people will get that reward, but not the reward from you, while the person who does the good deeds purely out of love and obedience for you will get the reward from you.
• Only you are able to judge the level of hypocrisy in me.

I said “level” there because there is always some level of wanting recognition from others in me. When I sit down and do these prayers on a public blog, I am here with you and not thinking about others. These are part of my worship. At the same time, I check the stats from time to time to see how many people view the site. I like affirmations when someone likes what I’ve written. I set this up to inspire people to spend their own time with you, journaling and praying. That motive is pure. But it does feed the hypocrite in me as well. But I would imagine this is a struggle that any author, preacher, singer, etc. has. And only you can judge my heart.

Father, help me to be completely here with you. Help me to point to you for all of the glory exhibited through my life. Help me to do more privately to worship you than I do publicly. And forgive me for my hypocrisy. I am sorry for my vanity and how it claims and craves glory for myself. Oh, and thank you for overlooking my ignorance. My prayer about Jesus and hypocrisy from last summer was seemingly fundamentally flawed. I am sorry for that as well. But I thank you for understanding my limitedness, my foolishness, and my true desire to just learn more and worship you.

I pray all of this through Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 

Matthew 5:33-37

³³ “You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’ ³⁴ But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. ³⁵ And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. ³⁶ Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black. ³⁷ Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

Matthew 5:33-37

Dear God, I was listening to a podcast from The Bible Project yesterday on this passage. It was very good. Frankly, all of their podcasts I’ve heard are very good. They did a deep dive on Jewish culture at the time and the cultural context within which Jesus was giving these instructions.

At the end of the day, this is about my personal integrity. Do I need to manipulate someone into believing me in a certain situation by using special words, or do I have a reputation that lets people know they can trust me no matter what? If I tell my wife I am running an errand and will be back in two hours, do I have to swear to her that I am doing something innocent or can she just assume it because she has 35 years of history of me being trustworthy? Conversely, when she gets a text from another man about something, I don’t have to read it or go through her texts because she has proven to be completely trustworthy was well. There is a lot of peace in being able to trust someone.

I have to say, the person who has lied to me the most over the course of my life–well, they are in the top two anyway–will “swear” by something (especially one of their parent’s grave) a lot when they want to convince me to believe them. It actually is a pretty good tell that you are dealing with a person who does not mind playing with dishonesty and using it as it benefits them.

Father, as for me, help me to just sink into honesty and trustworthiness today, regardless of what it costs me. Help me to be shrewd when working with others and determining their trustworthiness. What I really want is to simply represent you well. Be glorified in me. Draw others to yourself through me. I pray that you will find joy in the life I live as I do my best to submit to you. And thank you for forgiving my sin. When I lie to myself and to you. When I am selfish and even when I am deceptive, which I can be. Thank you for the ability to be here this morning.

I offer all of me to you through Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen