Contemplative Bible Reading

Amos 5:21 (New Living Translation)

21 “I hate all your show and pretense—the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.

pretense: verb, the act of behaving in a certain way to make something that is not true appear real. It is a false show, a fabricated claim, or an insincere attempt to hide one’s true feelings, intentions, or identity.

God is speaking to the people through the prophet Amos. The people are hypocrites. When I was a kid, there was a saying from the non-church goers describing the church goers. “Churches are full of a bunch of hypocrites.” Pardon the digression back to the 1970s.

In this instance, the people were hypocrites. God saw it; God called it. The acts of respect and love towards God, a.k.a., religious ceremonies, were a show and pretense. See the definition of pretense above. Make something that is not true appear real. Have a false show or fabricated claim.

Lie with you words and actions.

Oh, lying. Now I understand that one. The people were a bunch of liars. That is plain and simple. That is wrong. And they thought they could lie to God the Creator who knows all minds and hearts. Foolishness.

God hates lying. Plain and simple. And to lie about the love and respect of God… well that is about as bad a lie as the tongue can tell. God hates that. Plain and simple.

We have all this stuff that is plain and simple, yet we think we can wiggle around enough and put on a big enough show to “get away with it.” Nope. We aren’t getting away with anything with God. God knows. God hates the show and pretense. I need to get it together here.