Insecurity and fear are easily masked by pride and false humility. When we don’t think we measure up, we can easily present ourselves as something we really aren’t.
Video Transcript
[00:00:00] Hi there and Welcome back to Daily Bible promises with a Twist.
[00:00:04] Today, as always, we’ll be starting with the New International Version. Matthew 23:12. “Those who humble themselves will be exalted.” And we’re going to be reading the same verse in its entirety from the New American Standard Bible. And we’ll be following with verse 13.
[00:00:25] “And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled. And whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. But woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites. Because you shut off the Kingdom of Heaven from man. For you do not enter in yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
[00:00:44] Let’s define the word, humility. My favorite definition was one I was taught in Youth With A Mission. True humility is being willing to be seen for who and what you really are. And the root word of hypocrite is actor. On either side of the spectrum, where you build yourself up to be something that you are not yet, or when you refuse to accept the truth about who you already are.
[00:01:14] Jesus is obviously bringing up the issue of the Pharisees and Scribes who clothe themselves with as much religious regalia that they possibly could, so when they walked down the street people would have a sense that these men were very pious.
[00:01:34] In light of the definition that I learned of what humility is, I wonder what insecurities and fears were hiding behind all that ornamentation. And the weight the Pharisees wore day in and day out, both figuratively and literally, must have been intense.
[00:01:56] It’s mind boggling to imagine all of the things that the Pharisees had to remember on a daily basis as they went about living their lives. Every nuance of their day was covered by some sort of law. Is it possible, as those Pharisees that their religious stuff in the temple and on the street that they were masking a whole lot of fear and insecurity that they would never measure up to the self-imposed laws that they placed upon their own shoulders and the shoulders of those who followed them? Just a point to ponder
[00:02:41] Let’s read verse 13 with that imagery in mind, “But woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites because you shut off the Kingdom of Heaven from man for you do not enter in yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering in to go in.”
[00:02:59] Is it possible that the Pharisees saw Jesus offer of freedom and life to be too good to be true. And out of their insecurity, they clung to what if, they were truly honest with themselves, they already knew the outer works would never bring them the freedom that their heart longed for
[00:03:25] When you feel the need to be something that you are not are to not accept who you really are, step back. Ask yourself. “What is the fear underlying this need to exalt myself and make myself more important that I am or to debase myself and refuse to accept who God says that I am.”
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©2018 Katherine Walden
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