Not sure if this will turn into a multi-part series on some of the SOTM Dynamics, but I definitely got something this morning as I was breakfasting with my family. Often, as the expectation is that I will bring forth some portion of Scripture during breakfast, I will get something, five minutes into the text, and recently the lion’s share of the revelation has been coming from the Gospels.
This morning, the topic was prayer. I have been going through Matthew with the kids the last several mornings and going, more-or-less, verse-by-verse.
Today as I was with them, I was in the middle of lecturing (yes I do lecture my children) on prayer while frying eggs. And then I felt the Elbow of Heaven to hit that passage on which the L-rd talked with the crowds, on what some think was the Horns of Hattin, about prayer.
And so, at the first verse I read, went
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites -Matthew 6:5-
Plain as day. The Hypocrites. Now, in Yeshua’s day, “the hypocrites” could be deduced by the context. He is likely referring to the religious leaders.
But for our context, think of the religious leaders of our day who do not practice what they preach, and also think of the following euphemisms.
“But All Christians Are Hypocrites!,” “Not Perfect, Just Forgiven,” and [insert Your Favorite Triteism/Catchphrase]
We hear these sorts of things all the time. And they
Much of the currently prevailing belief about hypocrisy follows the lines of, “Everyone is a hypocrite”, or “only G-d is perfect” or something similar, “so why even bother at fighting hypocrisy?”
The truth is, Yeshua called the Pharisees and Saducees hypocrites, and thus, we are RESPONSIBLE to reject every hint of hypocrisy. Consistency of behavior is what gets people, who are considering the L-rd, to take Him more seriously.
Saying one thing and doing another is not typical Christ-following behavior. It’s sin.
As with all sin, turn tail from it and RUN. Don’t excuse it. Don’t qualify it. Don’t tolerate it. Cut it off.
No, not all Christ-followers are hypocrites. And the assertion of that statement does not make the statement “every Christian is perfect” true. Rather, followers of Yeshua are to SHUN hypocrisy. Period.
And the times of hypocrisy, as with other sin, as we grow in depth of relationship with him, should bear evidence of decreasing.
Hypocrisy In Prayer
Back to the text….
As I was speaking to my kids, I mentioned that we really were designed to not pray rote or pray the same thing every day, but rather, we were to pray consistently in alignment with the inner witness of the Spirit’s movement.
That is, instead of praying a “holy” checklist of acceptable prayers (bless my family, bless our nation, bless my pastor, touch this or that situation) out of hypocrisy…
When our relationship is designed to be living and breathing…
It was always Father’s intent that we find and cultivate the consistency of hearing Father’s heart in that connection time that we call “prayer” and go after the one thing that He is going after.
Instead of presenting a “Honey-Jesus-Do” list and looking impressive, we best work by hearing where He is in the moment of our connection time (John 5:19).
Instead of approaching the L-rd all the time as the transcendant G-d Who is Light Years and Realities Beyond and Outside of Us, we should cultivate the interaction that shows a revelation of His Fatherhood and Father’s heart.
For it is intimacy and authenticity, not unity and authority, that are the hallmarks of this season.
Instead of praying like devout believers, we were designed to pray like we were continuing a conversation with G-d our Father as Our Father.
Resisting hypocrisy in prayer, we find the conversation we were always meant to have.
Rejecting hypocrisy, we pursue authentic relationship.
Instead of praying to be seen by people, we were made to pray to be seen by the One who already sees us, El Roi.
If that authenticity is in praying for family, then pray for family.
But if it is hearing Him speak to a specific issue, then we ought to follow through against a specific issue.
Follow the consistency of your relationship with Him.
And resist hypocrisy.
Resist the trap of presenting yourself as having relationship with Him and behaving as if you don’t have relationship with Him.
I think one day, you’re gonna be able to take about 1000 topics and really know how to talk about them. Ive never read anything on this tooic before.