\n<\/p>\n
Look, you want the truth from within,
\nAnd in the secret part you will give me the knowledge of wisdom.
\n(Psalm 51:6)<\/p>\n
If we deal with God, we must deal with Him in good faith. Our approach towards him should be honest and straightforward. To the best of our ability, we actually want from God what our attitude toward Him says we want.<\/p>\n
Most people know that the strongest language in scripture is against hypocrisy. For example, we recall Jesus’ revelation of the Pharisees: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside, but inside full of dead men’s bones and all filthiness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:27,28). Yet we cringe every time we read these words, but we generally do not see ourselves as guilty of the sin they condemn. We are not everything we should be, but we are not guilty of such blatant deception, at least not knowingly.<\/p>\n
But hypocrisy wears many masks, and it can creep into our character very subtly. If we say that we seek God and we engage in outward actions that appear to be those of a seeker, all this means is that we seek God \u2013 for Him, as He really is, and on whatever terms He sets. Unfortunately, we often have less things on our minds. All we really want from God is just a little help in adjusting our outer lives to prevailing social standards of goodness. What He wants, however, is to adjust our inner life to His eternal standards of truth, which is a very different thing. If we have no intention of actually going where we know God is going, what does that say about our quest to find Him?<\/p>\n
One should not mock God. He cannot be tampered with. There is no possibility of deceiving him about our intentions when we come before him. As the \u201cGod of truth\u201d (Isaiah 65:16), He wants our actions to truthfully reflect our will and our true will to be nothing less than conforming to the realities of His truth \u2013 body, soul, and spirit.<\/p>\n
“Honesty is the prime requirement in every approach to God, who requires ‘truth in the inward parts’ and who hates all hypocrisy, lies and deception” (Geoffrey B. Wilson).<\/p>\n