The Hypocrite

Have you ever had one of those moments where you find yourself talking to someone only to think I don't think that conversation came out like I wanted it to? That happened to me the other morning.

My son just turned 15 so he is eligible to take his driver's permit test. He has been studying his driver's book but he said he is not quite ready to test. The other morning I was taking him to someone's house so he could help her with some yard work. As we were driving to her house I simply asked "Do you understand why I do certain things when I drive?" he said "What do you mean?" me "Like why do I stop when I am turning left, or why do I look left then right then left again?" We chatted a minute and I caught myself saying "When you want to change lanes you need to turn your blinker on for about 3 or 4 clicks (the sound the blinker makes), I don't always do that but you should." A few minutes later we came to a stop sign and I said "You should always come to a complete stop, I don't always do that but you should." After I dropped him off and headed for work the first thought that came to my mind was "HYPOCRITE". Hypocrisy is defined as a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess. I was the living definition, telling my son what to do but I wasn't doing it myself.

As I thought about that I wondered what other areas of my life do I say "I don't always do that but you should." As a Christian we are called to do more than talk the talk, we are called to walk the walk. Too many times we get it backwards, we want to talk the talk but refuse to walk the walk. When we do this I believe we show our ignorance. As a Believer we should be studying God's word and applying it to our lives day in and day out. We should not have to go around trying to convince people we are Christians they should be saying that about us because the way we live and the things we say are so radically different from what the general population says and does that there is no question as to what we believe.

I want to share a few verses on hypocrisy. These verses are for those of us who profess to be followers of Christ. Keep this thought in the back of your mind as you read these: Are our actions speaking as loudly as what our lips are saying or are our words overshadowing our professed faith?

I Peter 2: 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

James 1: 22-24 - But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

I John 2: 4 - Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

Romans 2: 1 - You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

Take a look at this quote from an article in the Washington Times newspaper. This is an article about Mahatma Ghandi rejecting Christianity as a false religion:

"Like Gandhi millions have been unable to see the Christ obscured by Christianity.

Gandhi was shrewd enough to tell missionaries, “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” "

As a follower of Christ we should never expect to live a perfect life, we should never tell people to follow our example. As followers of Christ we should always be pointing people to the only one who ever lived a perfect life and that is Christ himself. As a Christian we should not measure our worth by how good we are or how well we behave, our worth comes from the atoning work of Christ who, through his death and resurrection, has given us a right-standing before the Father. However, if we truly have the Holy Spirit living in us and we truly understand what Christ did for us on the cross we should be motivated to live a life that brings glory to God and not ourselves.