Hypocrite

This is a hard word for a Christian to accept about themselves, and

to be honest, I don’t believe a true born-again believer is a hypocrite.  I believe at times they do things that make them look like a hypocrite so people say that they are, but in all reality nobody is perfect and all Christians sin at times, to their shame.

The word hypocrite means an actor, a pretender, so if you are truly born-again you cannot be a hypocrite, you are a real believer, and not just an actor on a stage and you are not just pretending to be a believer, even though you may act like one at times.  Think about what an actor does, he pretends to be the person that he is portraying in the movie or play that he is in.  Good actors try to learn about the person that they are pretending to be so they can mimic the person they are playing, right down to every little detail, from what the person wore, to how they talked, to how they acted and even how they walked, in many cases.

As I think about this, I can relate it to the way believers should act, they should act like the person they represent, kind of like an actor does.  Believers should study the Lord’s life and see what He did, how He spoke, how He acted, what He taught, how He lived, what He loved and what He hated and try, with His help, to mimic Him the best they can.  Not every person in the church is truly a believer; some are just pretending to be.  They dress, act and talk like a believer but that is as far as it goes, they are actors and pretenders.

Over the years I have talked, and even worked, with people that claim to be religious people but their words and actions told a far different story.  Yes, they had the form of religion but lacked the power they needed, to overcome sin.  I was talking to one of them at one time and he told me that he knew more about religion than I would ever know, and that may have been true.  But, what I saw and heard come from his mouth and the things he did were very contrary to what I think a true believer would be saying and doing.

It is not attending a church and acting like the rest of the people while you are in church that proves you are a true believer, but it is the way you consistently live your life that shows the change that Jesus has made in a person’s life, that’s what counts.  People are watching you all the time to see if your words line up with the way you live your life and they have their own preconceived ideas of what a Christian should be like and how they should live their lives.  Their ideas may not always be biblical, but most have heard enough to know somewhat of how a Christian should live and that is what they look for in a Christian’s life.

Think about the religious leaders and teachers in Jesus’ day they were very religious people.  They were in the Temple teaching the people and more times than one Jesus got on them for their hypocrisy.  At one time Jesus healed a lady in the temple who had been bound by Satan for eighteen years and the synagogue ruler became indignant, because of what Jesus did on the Sabbath, so he told the people to come and be healed on any other day, but not the Sabbath.  Then Jesus spoke up and said this, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him?  And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?”  You can look this up in Luke 13:10-16.

The Pharisees held to their own set of laws and teachings but they neglected love and mercy.  Jesus demonstrated these characteristics and more and brought these Pharisees to shame, it says this in verse 17, “As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.”

So, if you are a believer and someone calls you a hypocrite, don’t be offended, just examine your life and if you have to correct some things, do it, if you have to repent, do that and then start doing the right things.  And if you find yourself in the role of an actor, repent and confess your sins and ask the Lord to forgive you and to come into your life and be Lord of your life.  If you are sincere, I believe that He will do just that.  Have a great day and God bless!!