Words of Grace – Dec. 11, 2014

“And when you pray,” Jesus said, “you shall not be as the hypocrites are” (Matthew 6:5).

The person who believes in prayer, and talks about prayer, but never prays, is an unpraying hypocrite. The people Jesus was talking about did pray, and they prayed long prayers. They were known as praying hypocrites.

Someone has described himself as The Praying Hypocrite as follows.

I knelt to pray when day was done, and prayed, “O Lord, bless everyone. Lift from each heart the pain and let the sick be well again.”

And then I woke again one day and carelessly went on my way. The whole day long I did not try to wipe a tear from any eye. I did not try to share the load of any brother on the road. I did not even go to see the sick man just next door to me.

Yet once again when day was done, I prayed, “O lord, bless everyone.” But as I prayed, to my ear came a voice that whispered dear,

“Please, hypocrite, before you pray, whom have you tried to bless today? God’s sweetest blessings always go by hands that serve Him here below.”

And then I hid my face and cried, “Forgive me, Lord, for I have lied. Let me but live another day, and I will live the way I pray.”