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Whitewashed Tombs

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings.  1 Peter 2:1

 

Unfortunately, sometimes those of us who are Christians are the worst advertisements for our faith. We keep sinning even after we name Jesus as our Savior and Lord, and we often appear to others as insincere and hypocritical. And all too often, we are.

Some of Jesus' strongest words were reserved for hypocrites---for people who claimed to believe in God, yet were insincere and only used their religion to try to impress others. Jesus called those people "whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27). What an indictment!

Ask God to reveal any hypocrisy in your life, any inconsistency between what you profess and what you practice. Then ask God to bring you so close to Christ that you won't have any desire to live an inconsistent, deceitful life. Not only will you be a better person, but God will begin to use you to point others to Christ and His transforming love.

From, HOPE for Each Day: Morning & Evening Devotions, by Billy Graham.