Some people try to hide their contemptuous and resistant hearts with The Right Words, like this:

“And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly” (21).

There have been times when I have thought along this line: “If you really believe what you just said about my teaching, why do reject it in your living?” Or this one: “Which should I go by — what you tell me about me with words or what you show me with your life?”

On the other hand, I wonder how often I’ve been like such people. Or the priests and scribes of Jesus’ day.

Deliver me from hypocrisy! (And insincerity. And deception. And flattery.)

I want to be a faithful disciple of the Master.

I want to be a faithful doer of God’s Word.

I want to be a faithful follower of God’s leaders.

(And I want to be redemptive toward those who oppose themselves.)

from Luke 20:23

A little bit more from Luke 20: Whose Am I?