Hypocrisy

. wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God. 1 Corinthians 4:5

Note that the verse above talks about the motive of the heart, all those good actions that were done with the wrong motives and were praised by men will be exposed for what they were-Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy in my understanding is when your heart says one thing and your mouth and body respond in another, for the primary purpose of looking for praise from man. The pressure to live a holy life has pushed many into this unsustainable lifestyle, I have a feeling Ananias and Sapphira felt that pressure to look good as they took part in their version of count me in. Am sure they wanted Peter to praise them before the congregation, they were wrong. God has always been interested in the motive not the action.

Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Mathew 23:26

The religious spirit deceives us into thinking that external activity can resolve internal problems. It has an old Testament way of defining sin as activity i.e. what you eat drink, where you go, what you do “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit . Romans 14:17” it deals with externals and neglects the heart. The deception in religion is that you can work yourself into holiness with do’s and don’ts, trying to make a bad tree bear good fruit.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts–murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. Mathew 15:19

How to clean the cup

Religion is the tendency to desire a list of preset boundaries and not a relationship. The only way to clean the cup is having an abiding relationship with our lord Jesus Christ. An important principle will then play out YOU WILL START TO BEHAVE LIKE THE ONE YOU SPEND TIME WITH. Take the Narrow Road

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. John 15:4