We’ve all met scoffers who thoughtlessly parrot the phrase, “The church is full of hypocrites!” But let’s not be thoughtless in our response and dismiss such pronouncements without taking heed lest they be true.Have we ever been like the Christian mother who glanced through her window, only to see a nosy, noisy neighbor approaching her door? Her young, impressionable children heard her as she growled, “Oh, no — not her again!” Whereupon she opened the door and insincerely exclaimed, “How very nice to see you!”
There’s a saying that says, “A hypocrite will often pray on his knees on Sunday, and prey on his neighbors on Monday.” The opponents of Christianity may not be so much against Christ as they are against the hypocrisy of His followers. Ironically, it hasn’t occurred to them that no one was more opposed to hypocrisy than Jesus (cf. Matthew 6:2,5,16-18; Matthew 23:13-15; Matthew 23:23-29).
By our lips and by the example our daily living produces, we sometimes teach a mixed message. In Matthew 23:1-15, Jesus described the hypocritical teachers of the law and warned His disciples, “Do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do” (Matthew 23:3).
God forbid that some opponent of Christ would be influenced by any careless hypocrisy in our lives. As we live before others, let our prayer be “Lord, help us to be sincere followers of Thee, and sincere proclaimers of Thy Word” (cf. Joshua 24:14; 2 Corinthians 1:11-12; 2 Corinthians 2:14-17; Titus 2:6-8).
—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets
Comments
Post a Comment