Jesus told them, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites in Scripture: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’” [Mark 7:6 (GW)]
I’ve been reading a book about discovering one’s “authentic” self; among other things, the author concluded that her authentic self wears make-up. I admit to wearing make-up, coloring my hair, wearing a padded bra and using Spanx, but I’d never call that my authentic self! Without a doubt, that’s my more attractive self, but hardly the authentic one! While I don’t consider it “authentic,” trying to appear as attractive as possible isn’t hypocritical. Pretending to be one person in public and actually being another one in private is!
Jesus spent a great deal of time condemning the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Like the Greek thespians who wore masks while acting in the theater, they presented one face to the world while their real one was hidden behind their masks. In fact the word “hypocrite” comes from the Greek word “hypokrites” which means actor. The Christian church has taken a lot of flak for being filled with hypocrites and, unfortunately, some of it is justified. I’m the first to admit that my actions often don’t match my words and there frequently is a shortage of spiritual fruit in my orchard.
Fortunately, the validity of Christianity depends on the truth of Jesus Christ—his death, resurrection and ascension—rather than the behavior of His followers. We’re all sinners and even the most devout among us misses the mark on occasion (or frequently, in my case). Being a Christian doesn’t mean we don’t struggle with sin—Jesus set a high standard and we all fall short of it. Nevertheless, we can do our best to live as we profess to believe by relying on the Holy Spirit to convict, empower and change us. Being a sinner isn’t hypocrisy—it’s just part of being human. Christian sinners know what they are and admit it; they recognize, acknowledge and repent of their sins. On the other hand, hypocrites recognize their sin but neither acknowledge nor repent of it. Clearly, not all sin is hypocrisy; all hypocrisy, however, is a sin!
Why is it that a community that talks so much about supernatural transformation shows so little of that transformation? We will have to be men and women who embody the message that we are preaching, whose lives are faithful to the claims we are making. [Ravi Zacharias]
With John’s purchase of his sporty new car, I thought I was done writing about Lynn Johnston’s comic strip For Better or For Worse and temptation. I’d forgotten all about Ted, John’s friend, who suggested a “spicy dish” and some “after hours recreation.” Shocked, John had said, “Your wife wouldn’t put up with you messing around!” Ted smugly replied, “Oh she suspects…The trick is—never let them know for sure!!” Six weeks after appearing in that comic, Ted reappeared in another one. When Ted grumpily refused a ride in John’s new car, John wondered if he’d gotten out of the wrong side of the bed. No longer smug, Ted dejectedly responded, “Doesn’t matter what side of the bed I get out on anymore…My wife left me.” I didn’t see that coming and, apparently, neither did Ted!
Living in a nation where we worship freely and can both possess and read the Bible, we can easily get complacent and forget that Satan is trying to defeat the spread of the gospel message. According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, those Gideon Bibles we find in our hotel rooms are becoming an endangered species. In this era of political correctness and inclusiveness, hotels want to avoid offending people of other faiths or no faith at all. Two years ago, for example, citing “diversity” reasons, the Travelodge chain in the United Kingdom removed Bibles from all of its rooms. Last year, the Freedom from Religion Foundation asked fifteen major hotel companies to keep Bibles out of hotel rooms. With threats of lawsuits, they succeeded in convincing hotels operated by some state universities in Arizona, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa to do just that. The FFRF has also printed a sticker reading, “Warning: Literal belief in this book may endanger your health and life.” They encourage their supporters to place the stickers on any hotel room Bible they find.
