To hypocrite or not to hypocrite….that is the question. (My apologies to Mr. Shakespeare.)
Have you ever noticed that one of the chief criticisms of Christians is that we are hypocrites? We’ve all heard the complaints. We don’t practice what we preach. Living for Jesus demands a degree of kindness and we are guilty of being less than kind from time to time. Sometimes, church-world isn’t a rosy, happy happy place in our business meetings. Let’s face it, we know that our calling to live holy lives coupled with our humanity and frailties means that we will not measure up to the standard we proclaim. We do not always practice what we preach nor live what we teach. Our hypocrisy peeks out from time to time.
The world that wants us to live up to the standards we hold dear is also the world that wants us to keep our religion to ourselves; to stay out of discussions of morality and ethics; and to keep silent when it comes to sharing the need for people to be saved. In other words, we are to deny the Great Commission (not practice what we preach), ignore Ten Commandments (not live what we teach), and ignore huge Biblical truths (un-believe our beliefs). Sounds like another form of hypocrisy to me.
When you stop to think about, trying to please a world that refuses to be pleased is a huge waste of the precious time God gives us to live for Him. To hypocrite or not to hypocrite…….not much of a question after all, is it?
“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20)
