Derek Smith
Lead Pastor
Matthew 6:1
Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father in heaven.
Things are not always what they seem. For example, a firefly is not a fly. A silkworm is not a worm. A lead pencil contains no lead; it’s made of graphite. A prairie dog is not a dog. An English horn is not English or a horn – it’s a French alto oboe. A guinea pig is not from Guinea and it’s certainly not a pig; it’s a rodent from South America. The Latin poet Phaedrus once said, “Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.” As the old cliche goes, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”
The same is true for some who claim to have an intimate walk with God. In Jesus’s day the Jewish religious leaders were known for their outwardly pious actions. They gave large sums to the poor, prayed aloud for all to hear, and seemed to follow the biblical law perfectly, but Jesus said their religion was useless. Why? Because it was all a show. The truth is that their private lives didn’t match their public devotion. It’s very easy to attend worship services, engage in bible studies, and talk about prayer and the Word when we actually haven’t spent quality time with Jesus much at all the week or month prior. A hypocrite is not someone who is irreligious. A hypocrite is someone who performs religion but has little to no personal connection to Christ. The question then is do I truly love God from the heart? Is prayer, worship, and the study of God’s Word my daily practice of life or just something I do in front of people? Am I generous and hospitable to others or is that just something I do at church? Jesus wants our walk with Him to be genuine, an authentic expression of faith whereby we admit our failures and rely on Him daily for strength and wisdom. He also wants our lives to be characterized daily by generosity and kindness toward others, not just on special religious occasions. It has been said that you can’t judge a book by its cover. Would to God that this would not be true of the Child of God. May the cover of our lives be an illustration of what is truly on the inside.