How do you feel about “Holier than thou” people?

  God can’t stand them and neither can I!

  And here is what God wants the world to know: He can’t stand the “holier than thou” types! Here is His verdict on the religious: He tells us what He thinks about these kind of people in the book of Isaiah. He speaks of those who say to the world: “Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, For I am holier than you!’ These are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day. “Behold, it is written before Me, I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will even repay into their bosom…” (Isaiah 65:5,6)

  What is Holier Than Thou? The “Holier than Thou” syndrome is described as exhibiting an attitude of superior virtue or of being self-righteously pious. More ‘holy’ than anyone else!

  Some Christians speak things that sound so spiritual. Their deep and impressively beautiful words make it seem as though they have the power to read and judge the heart of another Christian. They tend to speak for God Almighty about whether somebody is really saved or not; whether the person is a true believer or not. They tend to turn their religious noses up to those who choose instead to walk in the freedom Jesus died to give them and refuse to dance to the beat of their drum.

  Some of these Christians, obviously and with all honesty in their heart, do not seem to see someone who disagrees with them in any way or someone with whom they disagree (even if the person is a member of the body of Christ), could be a true Heaven bound born again child of God. These Christians also seem to be more gifted than others in knowing who is a hypocrite and who is a true believer. They think that they are the only ones who can hear from God! No Christian ever openly admits that he or she has a “holier than thou” or “I know better than you” attitude towards another person. Nor is it easy to find a Christian who readily admits that that he/she feels that he/she is better than other Christians. They’re too ‘humble’ and ‘pious’ to admit such a thing. But that’s exactly what many of their words and actions portray.

  Their words ooze out, like honey, a certain level of egoism with their supposedly sound Christian standing and with the amount of “grace” they’ve received. Some pray to God to help the other so-called Christians to come to believe the truth as they see it, i.e., what they themselves believe to be the truth. They might pray to God to move mightily on the other person’s heart for Father to cause their hearts to be opened to the ‘truth’ as they see it or how they should act as ‘kingdom’ believers. They may confess to have no fellowship with those who might contest their beliefs (wondering what light should have to do with darkness). For them to show any form of kindness or any display of love to such people becomes a great Christian accomplishment on their part, a saintly action that they may even testify to.

  Although they may call themselves students of the Bible to appear humble to others, they may actually consider themselves teachers of the Bible. To appear to be the most reliable authority on the word of God should be a scary role for anyone to take.

  The tragedy of these kinds of people is that they claim to represent God. Worse still, the world tends to believe them. They develop a ‘following’ by appearing humble and loving when actually the feel they’re above (more spiritual) than others. They feel they are called to be leaders who have been chosen to speak for God thus placing themselves above others.

  I’ll leave you with what the Word says again and what God thinks about these kind of people…. “Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, For I am holier than you!’ These are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day. “Behold, it is written before Me, I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will even repay into their bosom…” (Isaiah 65:5,6)

  He has no time for the “holier than thou” religious, because they have no actual interest in holiness in itself. What matters is their holiness in comparison to you. They’re not actually interested in what’s good, true and beautiful. They only want to find ways of being better than you. True holiness is ‘arms open wide’ offer reaching out in love saying, “Come” “Come and see this man named Jesus who told me all about myself.” The holiness of Jesus reaches out to you and says “Come!”

In His love,
Elizabeth