Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Matthew 23:13
The scribes and Pharisees were the so-called religious leaders of the day. They were supposed to hold the doors open for Jesus, instead they blocked the way. When people say to us, "I won't go to church because there are too many hypocrites." Do we answer, "Well, we're closer to God that you are." Let's take that self-righteous answer and bury it. If our inconsistent lives keep ourselves and others out of the kingdom, we usually know it. Just because we are a church member, it doesn't mean we are an open door to the kingdom. When someone calls up a hypocrite, woe to us if we don't carefully evaluate our stance in Christ. If we don't, if we won't, we may be the hypocrites we deny being. Let's not play a part. Let's get real.
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