If what you claim to know and are learning is not being applied to you personally and causing change, and then you seek to speak it to others as though you possess it, that is the definition of a hypocrite.

The first step to owning what the Holy Spirit is showing you is to share what He pinged you about with someone else and then talk about how you are applying it to your own life.

Revel in how you realize you needed it, be thankful the Holy Spirit revealed it, and then speak to others you respect about how you plan to take your first step, expecting that they will be lovingly willing to ask you later how you are doing with applying what you revealed.

This is discipleship 101 in the body of Christ, and if leaders can’t get it, imagine what the rest of the culture in the church will look like.

Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

What was the issue here with Jesus?

The issue was that these leaders were hypocrites.  What made them hypocrites?

Matthew 23:1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8 But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.

Doing things to impress men and seeking to instruct others without first applying the truth to oneself out of embracing the will of God for oneself is hypocrisy. Religious leaders were guilty of this during Jesus’ time on earth, and many are still doing this today. They rejected His invitation and were threatened by the grace He was binging.

Seeking to teach others without any hint of the self-discipline to apply the truth to one’s own life and practice is hypocrisy.  Being too busy to allow the Holy Spirit to speak and to bring change into one’s own life before seeking to teach it to others is hypocrisy.  His love and grace bring change, and beholding Him brings transformation.

If I am unwilling to apply what I teach to myself and allow myself to be held accountable for what I teach, then I am behaving as a hypocrite.  I do not desire to behave as a hypocrite, and that leads me to ask for the Holy Spirit’s help in owning the truth He reveals to me regarding Christ and His ways.  I desire to move beyond the information stage to the practice stage, where a real disciple of Jesus is made.  That way, when I speak to others, I am speaking as a disciple, friend, and brother in Christ, not a holier than thou pharisaical do-gooder.  To me, this is real holiness expressed.  Hypocrisy is the opposite of true holiness.