Don’t Be a Hypocrite

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Scripture: Luke 12:1-3 (The Message)

By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each other’s toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus’ primary concern was his disciples. He said to them, “Watch yourselves carefully so you don’t get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip, and your true face will be known. You can’t whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day’s coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town.

Devotion:

            Hypocrisy is the one sin that Christians get called out on more than any other. It seems we are forever saying we believe one thing and then doing the opposite. In the scripture passage above Jesus declares that it was no different in Israel during his lifetime. Jesus points to the supposed religious people as the guilty parties. In the interest of transparency, I have been guilty of this sin myself. There is an old saying that bears our consideration here. “If you find a church with no hypocrites in it, do not join it because you will be their first one.”

            We Christians set ourselves up for the charge of hypocrisy by the very words we profess. We attempt to imitate in life a sinless, perfect Savior. While we know full well that we will fail. Failing miserably at times. Jesus is the only person who ever lived who could legitimately claim not to be a hypocrite. We, however, are encouraged to give honesty and integrity our best shot. We try to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to keep us out of trouble with our words and actions. But our flesh inevitably gets in the way and causes us to stumble and fall. Thanks be to God that He is forgiving and truly loving toward us!

            We can say with Paul in Romans 8:1, “therefore there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” God holds us guiltless regarding our double mindedness. He is not pleased with our sin but in Christ he looks beyond our sin. We can act boldly in the defense of the faith knowing that God has our back. We must be careful with our words and actions. Never committing the sin of hypocrisy deliberately. God will be our protector in life. His Holy Spirit will be our helper, And Jesus will be our defense attorney when we are charged with sin.

Prayer:

            Let us turn to our great God in our time of need. That we may be held guiltless on the day of judgement that is coming on the world. Our only plea will be the blood of Jesus shed for us on the cross. We have no other hope in heaven or on earth but Jesus. We confess that we have not always been the best representatives of God’s kingdom. We cling to Jesus who lived, died, and lives again for our forgiveness. Glory be to God! Amen.

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