Beware Hypocrisy

This is kind of an off shoot of something I've been thinking about recently that is based strongly in Romans. It didn't really stand out to me the first time I read it, but then Katie mentioned something they covered in the LIT conference that started me thinking. She said one of the speakers spoke about the dangers of making the outside look better than the inside really is. Of course I agreed with what she said, I knew it was true, but it didn't really start to sink in until recently.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I find it very difficult to make make the inside as pure as the outside appears. It is much easier for me to polish and shine the outside of the armor than to go inside and repair the chinks in it. Not that it's deliberate fakery, most of us wouldn't attempt that, but it shows up in little things. . . little modifications and exaggerations that enhance the image I try to project. Here's a few that apply to me.

1. Don't give prayer requests I haven't really prayed for myself.

2. Don't give testimony on something I haven't really learned (I can be quite good at stringing together a bunch of facts that haven't really helped me, and what's more I know really won't help anyone else, but I say them anyway because they just sound good together.)

3. Don't do things at church I don't when I'm not around my friends . . . church people who will pat me on the back for it. i.e. opening the door for mom; smiling (don't laugh it happens); talking to older people; initiating prayer (If I'm not initiating prayer with my saved friends and family outside of church, I have no right to step out of character at church and do it just to be the "spiritual leader." Seriously, I have been tempted more than once with that one!)

I'm not saying I intend to avoid these at church. Quite the opposite, we need more of it at church and I strongly encourage those of you who do to keep on. But personally I've been convicted that if I'm going to do it at church, I should put forth the same, if not more, effort to do it at home and at work. After all, the world needs to see my faith in action more than my saved friends do.

4. And this is the hardest one because it is very specific for me. Don't spend more time figuring out how to phrase what I've learned so others can properly appreciate me-- I mean it. . . the lesson that is. . . than I do praying about it and finding ways to apply it. Having said that, I'd better stop writing! Seriously though, keep me accountable. That's one of the things about this blog that scares me. However there are also many benefits I see from it which I don't want to miss, so I'm going to give it a try.

Okay call me dense, but it took me a little bit to figure out where this came from. It dawned on me when I reviewed Romans 2. Suddenly I realized where it originated from. (I know, that's backwards from the way it should work, I should be pulling it out of the Bible in the first place instead of using the Bible to back it up, but sometimes that's the way it works for me. I guess God's word works in the subconscious. Anyways, it's neat when God's conviction and the people and circumstances He puts around me meet on the page, all combining to show me exactly what He wants me to see! I guess he knows what He's doing!)

Here's what Romans says about this.
Romans 2:17-24. Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, 18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; 19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, 20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. 21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? 23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?

The end result of my false front? I would almost be tempted to shove it off as inconsequential, but then Paul gives the real affects of my hypocrisy. Verse 24: For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. (Talk about killing attempts to advance God's kingdom)

I guess what I'm saying is this. It's easier for me to talk about what God is convicting me of than it is to do something about it. It gives the impression that I'm dealing with it when in reality, I'm just flaunting it for the crowd. Whenever I care more about how others view my relationship to God than I do how God views my relationship with Him, I'm headed for serious trouble. And He's around me 24/7, so He knows if I'm faking it at any time, and when I do, I'm in effect saying that I care more about other people than I do about him. Again, I'm sometimes tempted to shove off these slight enhancements to my image as inconsequential, but it isn't so. If you don't agree, look at what Jesus said to the hypocrites of his day in Matt 23;13-33

Anyway, I wanted to share this with you guys so you know a little bit if what I'm learning right now and how you can pray for me. I gotta go. Oh yeah, Merry Christmas! I know this wasn't very, as Greg would say, "holidayical" but it will have to do for the time being.

In Christ, Mike