"...More than anything else, beware of these Pharisees and the way they pretend to be good when they aren't. But such hypocrisy cannot be hidden forever. It will become as evident as yeast in dough." Luke 12:1-2. (TLB)
The more things change, the more they stay the same. One of the biggest problems in
Christ's time is still one of the biggest problems believers face today. Nothing will turn off
non-believers, stifle church growth, and destroy a body of believers faster than Hypocrisy
will.
I point a finger at myself, I am not judging you. But we have to know, and, more
importantly, we have to teach new Christians that we may be the only Jesus some people
will ever see. Do you want to live the rest of your life knowing that you are the reason
someone failed to accept Christ as Savior and are burning in Hell for it?
The world, in its twisted and diseased mind hopes we fail. When we declare that we have
been saved by grace through the blood shed by the Son of God and are no longer walking
the wide path to Hell, but trying to climb the straight and narrow path to eternal life with
our Messiah, we are doing the equivalent of placing a target on our back and walking out
onto the gun range.
Most people are looking for something to point to so they can say "Christians are not
any better than the rest of us." When we say one thing but do another, we are handing
them their justification to skip church. When we fail to practice what we preach, we are
throwing stumbling blocks in front of those who wish to come to receive Salvation.
Hypocrisy is presented to Satan as a beautifully wrapped present on a silver platter.
Nothing he has ever created in his sweltering laboratory deep within the basement of Hades
has worked as well as Hypocrisy. Every time you preach or teach about God's Law, and do
something that violates it, you may as well be kicking someone down the slippery slope to
eternal damnation.
Copyright 2007 Timothy E. Davis