Luke 12:1-3

Luke 12:1-3

In this, after an innumerable crowd gathered, so much that they trampled each other, He began to first teach His disciples, “Give yourselves heed from the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  Nothing is having been covered on all sides that will not be revealed – and hidden that will not be known.  Therefore, whatever you all said – as much as it was in darkness – it will be heard in the light.  And that which you all speak in the closet to the ear will be proclaimed upon the housetops.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

The first thing that Jesus tells us is that we cannot hide things.  This is really quite true.  Nothing that we are and do is ever completely hidden.  People find ways into our life.  We build walls, but there are always cracks.  If we don’t reveal truth through our words, we certainly reveal it with our actions.  What Jesus is telling us here is that we honestly cannot keep things hidden and buried within ourselves.  It will come out.

Are you hiding anything?  Why do human beings try to hide things about themselves from others?  What do we try to hide?

Second Thought:

The second thing that Jesus tells us is that nothing we say in private ever really stays in private.  I’ve heard the saying, “Loose lips sink ships.”  But the truth is that human beings like to talk.  We like to gossip. We like to share those juicy morsels that we know about others.  When we speak things, we should know that the likelihood that they will be repeated is high – especially the things that we don’t want repeated.  That’s just how most of humanity works.

What have you said that you didn’t want repeated?  Have you ever been surprised when you said something in private and you found out that your confidence was not kept?

Third Thought:

The big message here is one of hypocrisy.  What we do will be known.  What we say in private will be known.  We can’t hide secrets.  But that’s really the point.  The Greek word for hypocrisy is derived from the context of the theater.  It is the word used for what people do on stage.  Today, we call it acting.  What Jesus is warning us about in this passage is acting.  He doesn’t want us living an external life that is different from our internal being.  Who we are should be what people see when they look at us.  There should be no façade.  The only way that our message is in the slightest bit meaningful is when we live the way that we proclaim.

Does your message match your walk?  Where do you live out an example of your faith within?

Passage for Tomorrow: Luke 12:4-7