Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal? You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery? You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples? You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it. [Romans 2:21-23 (NLT)]
While yesterday’s story of the testy foul-mouthed grandpa was funny, it was also sad. That grouchy man with the bad vocabulary claims to be a God-fearing Christian and yet he thought nothing of losing his patience and taking God’s name in vain when annoyed by a little boy! His story points out the complaint so many have about the Christian church—we’re just a bunch of hypocrites!
I know a young pastor, raised in a church family, who was so disillusioned by the hypocrisy he saw that he gave up on God. Fortunately, God didn’t give up on him and He eventually came to Christ. I have several Roman Catholic friends who have left Christianity because of the hypocrisy they saw regarding priestly abuse in the church. The news has been filled with various preachers, celebrities, and politicians, claiming to be Christians with high moral values, who have been knocked off their pedestals with assorted scandals. Unfortunately, their public unmasking throws mud on the entire church.
In actuality, we all are guilty of hypocrisy. It’s just that, for most of us, our hypocrisy is rarely publicized. Nevertheless, just because our falseness isn’t exposed on the media doesn’t mean we’re any less guilty of it. Sometimes, all it takes is a little child’s repetition of our words to convict us!
Knowing that our behavior is our witness, we tend to focus on outward appearances and wear a false face of righteousness. Eventually, however, that perfect persona cracks, our hypocrisy is evident, and our witness becomes worthless. The best witnesses to the power of Christ are the Christians who are the most open and honest about their own weaknesses. When someone says we should forgive and doesn’t, that’s hypocrisy. When someone says we should forgive but confesses to difficulty doing so, that’s honesty. None of us are perfect and we all struggle with sin; why is that so hard for us to admit?
I write about praying and reading the Bible but do neither of them enough. I write about trusting God but I worry. I write about having a strong faith but have moments of doubt and even though I write about letting God lead me, I resist handing Him the reins! I would be a hypocrite if I denied being the terribly flawed person I am. My hypocrisy is in the pointing of my finger at the grumpy grandpa when I, too, have been known to let loose with a string of profanity! Admitting our flaws is not the same as accepting them and, like the Apostle Paul, we continue to be works in progress. Although better than we were, none of us are a good as we could be!
There’s not one Christian who completely lives up to the standard set by the Bible. Rather than trying to appear perfect on the outside, we must let God repair us from the inside. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can progress toward the goal of becoming more like Christ. Just because we haven’t attained that goal doesn’t make us hypocrites, it simply makes us human.
“I’m the answer to Pastor’s prayers,” said the woman lightheartedly as she sat down next to me at Bible study. Having seen on Facebook that he was praying for more people at Bible study, she felt the urge to come. Her comment caused me to think about the way God uses us to answer people’s prayers.
Sometimes our Florida church celebrates Communion at the beach. The church provides fried chicken and everyone brings a dish to pass. After enjoying dinner and fellowship with our church family, we congregate around the gazebo, pray, hear a brief sermon, and partake of the Lord’s Supper. Some Sundays, there also may be a Baptism in the ocean. We stand on the beach as the sun sets in the west and welcome a new Christian into the body of Christ. These sunset meals are a celebration of God’s grace, Jesus’s love, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Recently, the news has been filled with stories about powerful men who have misused their influence to prey on others. Unfortunately, abuse of power is nothing new. Consider our Biblical hero King David. While strolling on his roof late one afternoon, he looked down on the city below and spotted a beautiful woman taking her ritual bath. Even though he knew she was married, David sent for her. With at least six wives already, he wasn’t lacking for female companionship. Nevertheless, he wanted the beautiful Bathsheba. The Bible tells us the two had sex, she got pregnant, and David killed her husband to conceal their adultery. The Bible, however, tells us nothing of Bathsheba. We know she didn’t ask David to invade her privacy and, obedient to her king, she went to his palace. How could she refuse and to whom could she complain? Whether David managed to seduce her with his charm or forced himself on her doesn’t matter. He was her king and she had no choice. He wrongly took advantage of his power when he sent his men to get her, had sex with her, and manipulated events so that her husband was killed in battle.
Yesterday, our nation celebrated Thanksgiving, a holiday that revolves around food and unites our nation across lines of culture, race, religion, and politics in a way little else can. Regardless of what football team they support, where they live or from where they came, whether liberal, conservative or somewhere in between, my Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Christian, and unbelieving friends all celebrated around tables heavy laden with food. The menu and traditions varied—some had naan and others enjoyed cornbread or Parker House rolls. Some plates had ham alongside the turkey while others tofurkey and lentils or some of Grandma’s lasagna. Some cooks put pork sausage in their dressing and others kept kosher. There may have been glazed sweet potatoes and green beans at one house and mashed whites with gravy and corn casserole at another but, whatever was served, no one went away hungry and there were plenty of leftovers. Unfortunately, not everyone’s plate was piled with food and not everyone complained of feeling stuffed.
But she said, “Don’t call me Naomi; call me Bitter. The Strong One has dealt me a bitter blow. I left here full of life, and God has brought me back with nothing but the clothes on my back. Why would you call me Naomi? God certainly doesn’t. The Strong One ruined me.” [Ruth 1:20-21 (MSG)]
Devotions of the Heart 