“Then they secretly induced men to say, ‘We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.’ … They put forward false witnesses who said, ‘This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law'” (Acts 6:11, 13).

We are typically blinded to our own duplicity. These religious zealots put forward false witnesses, in direct violation of the law they were all rallying to defend (see Exod 20:16; Deut 19:16-19). The other day, I was painfully reminded of my own patterns of repeated hypocrisy. I had been loosing my temper with my son for loosing his temper with me. My sin was compounded by the fact that it was I, and not my son, who was zealously citing the Scriptures while I was doing it. How grateful I am to my son for being so quick to forgive. And how grateful I am to my God for helping me to see myself in the mirror of his word; and for the grace he gives so that I can also live it.

“Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted” (Gal 6:1).

And how grateful I am to my God for helping me to see myself in the mirror of his word