Ready to apologise and try to do better?

Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.” (Matthew 23: 27-32)

The hypocrisy with which we tend to seek men's praise instead of God's leads to underestimating and concealing, from ourselves and others, our own miseries and sins. Prophets who are sent by God to speak in His name to all mankind are not loved by hypocrites because they reveal what is hidden in their hearts. Because such a discovery is painful, those who did not want to convert from their hypocritical ways prefer to persecute and even kill the prophets. This is what will eventually happen with Jesus. When someone points out one of our flaws or a mistake we’ve made, do you get angry with them or are you grateful that they told you? And are you ready to apologise and try to do better?