Today’s Reading | Matthew 21
Hypocracy
When Jesus saw that the fig tree had no fruit, what did He do to it? Why did He curse the fig tree? Could it be that He was trying to illustrate to the disciples an important spiritual truth? From a distance, the fig tree looked great. In fact, they had walked up to it to get some fruit. But, when they got up close to it, they realized that it didn’t have fruit on it. It was similar to what was true of the temple in the first part of this chapter. The temple was beautiful on the outside, but inside the worship wasn’t worthy by God’s definition. God hates hypocrisy, which occurs when something looks one way on the outside, or from a distance, but the inside is very different. Are you like the fig tree or the Temple? What would a close examination of your life reveal? Is there an area of your life in which you are a hypocrite? Make a list of those areas in your life that may look good on the outside, but you know you need to change. Make a commitment today to change the inside to match what appears to please God from the outside. Begin working on those changes right away.
Today’s Questions
Say What?
Observation: What do I see?
So What?
Interpretation: What does it mean?
Now What?
Application: How does it apply to me?
Then What?
Implementation: What do I do?