Friday, 12th September, 2025.

Alex Buabeng-Korsah

TOPIC: HYPOCRISY 

THEME SCRIPTURE: “You say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’” — Matthew 23:30 (NLT)

PREPARATORY QUESTIONS:

1. What is hypocrisy and how does God sees hypocrisy?

 

The Pharisees claimed they would have honored the prophets their ancestors rejected and murdered. In saying this,  they distanced themselves from past sins while harboring the same rebellion in their hearts. Ironically, they were about to crucify the very One to whom the prophets pointed— Jesus Christ.

 This is the deceit of self-righteousness: believing we are morally superior to others while committing the same sins in different clothes. 

It’s easier to condemn the failures of the past than to face our present compromises.

The Church Fathers saw this tendency clearly. St. John Chrysostom warned,  “Nothing is more frigid than a Christian who does not seek to save others. You cannot plead the example of others; you must look to yourself.” The Pharisees hid behind the sins of their ancestors as a means of self-justification. But Christ saw through the pretense.

Spiritual pretenders or hypocrites rarely recognize themselves. Like the Pharisees,  we often flatter ourselves with imagined virtue, convincing ourselves we’d behave better—if we had lived then, or if we were in someone else’s shoes. But God is not interested in hypothetical righteousness. He is concerned with who we are today.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, "Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God’s will.” Pretending to be clean while remaining passive toward inward corruption is a subtle but deadly form of hypocrisy.

Yeah, spiritual pretense silences the voice of conviction and resists the Spirit’s sanctifying work.

We must allow God to expose our hearts.  Only in the light of truth can we walk in repentance and be transformed. The goal is not perfection of image, but submission of heart. The true Christian does not excuse sin but  brings it to the cross—again and again.

Don’t rewrite history to justify yourself. Don’t point to others to avoid looking inward.  Don’t pretend. Let God deal with what’s real.

Remain blessed.

 

FURTHER READING – Matthew 23  

QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU MEDITATE ON THE WORD:

1. Have you ever justified yourself by comparing your sins to others’?

2. In what ways might you be resisting God’s call to true repentance today?

3. What does it look like for you to courageously do God’s will right now?

 

PRAYER

Lord, protect me from the deception of pretending. Strip away my self-justifications and reveal where my heart still resists You. I confess the temptation to compare and deflect, rather than repent. Break the pride that masks rebellion, and lead me in truth. Make me a person of integrity—honest, humble, and wholly Yours. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.  

 

One-Year Bible Reading Plan

Psalm 93; Revelation 12; 2 Chronicles 32