Many people are hypocrites – those who praise and honor God and His Law with their lips but do not “practice what they preach.” We must not be like them – our adherence to God’s Way must not be limited to “lip service.” However, we should be glad when we hear “lip service” to God and His Word from people out in the world because a world where “lip service” is the norm tends to be a world of safety for God’s people. When even “lip service” disappears from society – when an attitude of hypocrisy is replaced by an attitude of open defiance, when direct attacks on Christianity and on the Bible become the social norm – then God’s people tend to be in much more danger from the outside world. However, an attitude of hypocrisy can be even more difficult to repent of than an attitude of defiance, a reason why we must so guard against hypocrisy in our own lives.

Steve Corley