Matthew 23:25-28 AMPC
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but within they are full of extortion (prey, spoil, plunder) and grasping self-indulgence. [26] You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside may be clean also. [27] Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you are like tombs that have been whitewashed, which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men's bones and everything impure. [28] Just so, you also outwardly seem to people to be just and upright but inside you are full of pretence and lawlessness and iniquity.
I remember watching the Superman cartoons as a kid, in particular, he had x-ray vision - meaning he could see through barriers that others couldn't.
What an useful super power! One we could do with in our own lives, as, today, there is so much deception going on.
Jesus' eyes see right through hypocrisy. He didn't mince His words when dealing with the religious and political leaders of His day.
His spiritual "x-ray vision" saw through the outward display, to what was really going on deep in their hearts. Their inner motives were buried under a veneer of piety.
All was not as it appeared on the surface.
Thankfully we, as believers, have been given the Holy Spirit and He gives us discernment and words of knowledge beyond our human understanding.
This means we are able, by God's grace, to see through the deceptions which abound.
Jesus warned about the end times "See that you are not deceived"... Luke 21:18
"Be as wise as serpents, but as gentle as doves" Matthew 10:16
Father God, help us to look to the Holy Spirit for discernment and insight so that we are not deceived in this world. Please give us clear guidance and understanding to live close to You, in Jesus' name
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