Disappointing People
“Woe unto you … ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matt. 23:27, 28)
Some time after World War II you could walk along the much bombed Queen Victoria Street in London and come upon a lovely Georgian doorway which had been left standing. The walls had been blasted or knocked down and carted away as rubble.
Only the beautiful mahogany door, standing half open, was left of what was once a prosperous business establishment. Glazed glass doors were visible within, and one could imagine large rooms filled with busy people beyond. But there was nothing beyond—nothing but a huge hole torn up by the enemy’s bomb.
Only the beautiful mahogany door, standing half open, was left of what was once a prosperous business establishment. Glazed glass doors were visible within, and one could imagine large rooms filled with busy people beyond. But there was nothing beyond—nothing but a huge hole torn up by the enemy’s bomb.
That door was a beautiful facade—every promise of something within, but belying that promise with an awful emptiness and ruin.
Perhaps that door without a house is similar to some people we meet. The door is so beautiful. Their words, their looks, and their manners are delightful. We long to walk through the half opened door, and into their minds and heart and be enriched by our friendship with them.
But, alas, we soon discover that the door is all. They have never bothered to develop their spiritual life. Beyond the flashing smile there is boredom and dullness. They put up a good front, but it conceals a horrible hypocrisy and life of iniquity. Jesus says unto all such, “Woe unto you!”