Advent Devotional 2021
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“Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Luke 12:1b (NIV)
“What a bunch of hypocrites!” At times we hear that criticism directed at Christians today, and that’s exactly what Jesus was saying about the Pharisees more than 2,000 years ago.
The Pharisees looked religious on the outside, but on the inside they were corrupt. Jesus was warning His disciples that just as a smidgen of yeast spreads through the entire batch of dough, so the sin of hypocrisy can quickly spread among people.
Jesus’ words of warning are just as applicable today. As believers, we need to guard against appearing “Christian” on the outside while on the inside the attitudes of our heart are anything but. When that begins to happen, it can infect individuals, families and, yes, even churches.
What does hypocrisy look like? To borrow on the popular fast-food chain, it’s when we have an “In-and-Out” life, where there’s a gap between the outside cover of the book – what we say and do – and what’s inside the book – our true beliefs, feelings, motives and such.
Sometimes, those gaps are visible to others – we might profess Christ is Lord but don’t follow Him, we might know God’s commands but don’t obey them, we might talk about His grace and forgiveness of us but refuse to give grace and forgiveness to someone else.
Other times, those gaps are hidden. But as The Message paraphrases this scripture, “You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known.”
As much as we may hate to admit it, as believers who sin we are by definition hypocrites. But we can guard against that yeast spreading by asking God daily to, in the words of Psalm 51, “create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit in me.” And when we’re clean on the inside, the outside will follow.
Mark Vasche
The Pharisees looked religious on the outside, but on the inside they were corrupt. Jesus was warning His disciples that just as a smidgen of yeast spreads through the entire batch of dough, so the sin of hypocrisy can quickly spread among people.
Jesus’ words of warning are just as applicable today. As believers, we need to guard against appearing “Christian” on the outside while on the inside the attitudes of our heart are anything but. When that begins to happen, it can infect individuals, families and, yes, even churches.
What does hypocrisy look like? To borrow on the popular fast-food chain, it’s when we have an “In-and-Out” life, where there’s a gap between the outside cover of the book – what we say and do – and what’s inside the book – our true beliefs, feelings, motives and such.
Sometimes, those gaps are visible to others – we might profess Christ is Lord but don’t follow Him, we might know God’s commands but don’t obey them, we might talk about His grace and forgiveness of us but refuse to give grace and forgiveness to someone else.
Other times, those gaps are hidden. But as The Message paraphrases this scripture, “You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known.”
As much as we may hate to admit it, as believers who sin we are by definition hypocrites. But we can guard against that yeast spreading by asking God daily to, in the words of Psalm 51, “create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit in me.” And when we’re clean on the inside, the outside will follow.
Mark Vasche
Prayer focus: Bring God your struggles, tell Him where you have messed up, ask for forgiveness & wisdom on how to continue to follow Him
Community prayer focus: Individuals who are homeless in our community
Community prayer focus: Individuals who are homeless in our community
Favorite Christmas Tradition
Every year since we moved to Modesto in 1988, we attended the 7PM Christmas Eve Service. Once our granddaughter, Liberty arrived in 2011, we switched to the Children’s 5:30 service and she attended with our daughter, Heather and husband, Jeremiah. As Liberty grew old enough to hold her own candle, it was such a blessing to see the expression on her face as she stared at her candle which would illuminate her tiny face. As time went on, our daughter and Jeremiah were able to adopt and add four more children to the family and like Liberty, they were fascinated with the candlelight. 2020 was a unique and sad year for most of us and we wondered how we could keep the candlelight tradition with no Children’s service. We could not meet in person and as we recall, the church had to close for some time. Since we always meet at our daughter’s home on Christmas Eve, I came up with an idea. Liberty learned to play Silent Night on her piano, the children held battery operated candles, and our daughters, husbands, and us held real candles as we all sang Silent Night. Even in the midst of a pandemic, we were determined not to let the darkness steal our Light and our joy, which is Christ Jesus.
Sandra H.
Every year since we moved to Modesto in 1988, we attended the 7PM Christmas Eve Service. Once our granddaughter, Liberty arrived in 2011, we switched to the Children’s 5:30 service and she attended with our daughter, Heather and husband, Jeremiah. As Liberty grew old enough to hold her own candle, it was such a blessing to see the expression on her face as she stared at her candle which would illuminate her tiny face. As time went on, our daughter and Jeremiah were able to adopt and add four more children to the family and like Liberty, they were fascinated with the candlelight. 2020 was a unique and sad year for most of us and we wondered how we could keep the candlelight tradition with no Children’s service. We could not meet in person and as we recall, the church had to close for some time. Since we always meet at our daughter’s home on Christmas Eve, I came up with an idea. Liberty learned to play Silent Night on her piano, the children held battery operated candles, and our daughters, husbands, and us held real candles as we all sang Silent Night. Even in the midst of a pandemic, we were determined not to let the darkness steal our Light and our joy, which is Christ Jesus.
Sandra H.
