"Two-Faced"

Luke 20:20 ESV

“So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.”

I’ve known some very sincere people and I known a few who “pretended to be sincere”. I like the sincere ones better. The Bible teaches us to be on guard against insincerity...

“Don't eat at the table of a stingy person or be greedy for the fine food he serves. ‘Come
on and have some more,’ he says, but he doesn’t mean it. What he thinks is what
he really is. You will vomit up what you have eaten, your flattery will be wasted.”

Proverbs 23.6-8 GNT

Learn to trust your instincts. That’s what Jesus did. Christ was not a superhero endowed with x-ray vision and extrasensory perception. Mental telepathy was not His way of discerning truth. Jesus prayed often and carefully observed the world around Him. He studied the people He met. He did not read minds, but He read people and He knew when they were pretending. He discerned the false smile and the dishonest compliment, the disingenuous offer and the two-faced personality.

We want to believe the best about people and give them the ‘benefit of the doubt’. It makes us feel magnanimous and liberal of spirit. While such belief in humanity seems bighearted and open minded, it may prove disastrous. Not everyone you meet is authentic nor is all you hear true. You may have met people who “pretended to be sincere”. You trusted them and relied what they said. You chose to ignore the warning signs along the way. That was a mistake, wasn’t it?

Look, listen, and learn. A man will eventually betray his thoughts, and when he does, you will know who he is. A person is what he thinks, not necessarily what he says at your first encounter.

“What he thinks is what he really is.”

Proverbs 23.7 GNT