Day: August 28, 2019

Hypocrisy

~ osasuoviawe

Matthew 23:27-32
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, saying, `If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
Thus you witness against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.

Homily:

To bring it home, I replace “scribes and Pharisees” with “my name”. The moment I think they acted differently from me or that I could have acted better, I become just as blinded to the truth.

Dear Lord, help me on my journey to purge out hypocrisy and live true to Your word.

Change is not the goal

~ osasuoviawe

Change is not the goal, it is a continuum of understanding.

You can call it a metric to measure your understanding.

As you grow in understanding (some call it consciousness), change occurs.

People resist change when they perceive change as the goal.
People accept change when they understand the goal.

Too many are skilled at telling and enforcing change.
Too few are good at communicating and inspiring understanding.

It is understanding that determines change, not change that determines understanding.

What helps us grow in understanding?
Paying attention to what the present is nudging you to act upon.

What the future needs, the present presents.

But if we are not paying attention, we lack understanding and focus on change.

If change is the goal, the goal is suffering.
If understanding is the goal, the goal is freedom.

To suffer, we need life and desire.
To be free, we add discipline (learning) and balance (temperance).

– Osasu Oviawe