‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. Matthew 15:8
Think about the sham of the religious leaders in Jesus’ day (Matt. 15:1-9). They pretended to love God and piously made up a long list of rules that they and others were to obey. But this was only to make themselves look good. They even considered their rules just as important as the Law that came directly from the Lord (vv.5-6). Jesus called them “hypocrites” (v.7). He said their words sounded as if they honored God, but their hearts told another story—they were far from Him (v.8). That kind of pretending goes on in people today as well. We look like good Christians on the outside because we go to church faithfully, follow some rules legalistically, and use the right words. We say we love Jesus, but our hearts may be far from Him. God wants us to be real.