Wolves in sheep’s clothing

It’s a grievous thing to watch truth and error walking side by side, light and darkness mingled in the same field. Yet the Lord Himself told us it would be so. “Let both grow together until the harvest” (Matthew 13:30). The wheat and the tares—true sons of the Kingdom and those who only appear to be—will grow together until the end. It is not ours to rip up the field, but to walk carefully in it, discerning the difference and holding fast to the Light.

Jesus never spoke lightly of hypocrisy. He spoke directly to those who wore religion like a cloak but were void of the Spirit. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” He said, “for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith” (Matthew 23:23). Outward righteousness meant nothing to Him if the heart was far from God.

Paul asked the Corinthian church a sobering question: “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14). When people try to blend true devotion to Christ with a self-serving, worldly spirit, it becomes a lie in disguise—a form of godliness, but void of power.

We ought to test the fruit, not the label. “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15–16). Not everything that carries the name “Christian” is born of Christ. Some things wear His name but deny His nature.

And we must not forget what Jesus said about honoring the Word of God above the traditions of men. In Mark 7, He rebuked those who set aside the commandment to honor father and mother, justifying themselves with religious customs. “Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition” (Mark 7:9). The test of sincerity often lies close to home—how we treat those God has placed in our daily lives.

Paul echoed the same when he wrote, “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8). Real godliness begins not on a platform, but around the table, in the quiet acts of love and honor at home.

The spirit of self-righteousness is the great enemy of the Gospel. Jesus said of some, “They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:43). And Paul, looking ahead to our day, warned that “men shall be lovers of their own selves… having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:2,5).

Self-glory wears many disguises, but it always reveals its true face in time. It will speak the language of faith but draw the eyes of others toward man, not Christ. It will mimic the Spirit, but leave no fruit of the Spirit behind.

So we watch—not with suspicion, but with sober discernment. We hold fast the truth. And we keep our eyes on Jesus, the true Light, that we might reflect Him faithfully even in a world full of confusion.


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