Jesus warned us about this again and again.

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Matthew 15:8)

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…” (Matthew 7:21)

“You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of bones and everything unclean.” (Matthew 23:27)

He was talking about religious people.

He wasn’t warning the pagans or the agnostics. He was talking to the temple crowd. The Pharisees. The kind of people who never missed synagogue, could quote Scripture, and dressed the part.

They had the external signs of religion—but no real relationship with God.

Their Bibles were worn, but their hearts were hard. Their prayers were long, but their love was cold. Their theology was precise, but their souls were barren.