Are Christians Hypocrites?
-
We are not perfect people. No person is perfect as we have all sinned (Romans 3:23). We each struggle with different sins and continually battle trying to do what God has commanded as right. Some struggle with alcohol, others with lying, others with gossip, and yet others with sexual sins. Each person has a sin that is most tempting to them and that is the sin that Satan focuses on when trying to get us to fall. As we go through our lives enduring these temptations, we know that Christ provides a “way to escape” (1 Cor 10:13). We know that we CAN live right, do right, and persevere through every temptation that we face. Yet many times we don’t. Many times we give in to those temptations. Satan begins reasoning with us concerning the temptations that we are facing. Satan tells us, “It is just one time”, yet that is never the truth. Satan tells us, “this won’t affect anyone but you”, yet we all know that even secret sins eventually affect others as well. Satan tells us that we will have plenty of time to change someday. He tell us that someday later in our lives it will be easier to get free from that sin. Yet we all know the deeper we go into sin and the longer we stay there the more difficult it is to get out of sin. Our conscience becomes “seared” to the sin (1 Timothy 4:2).
When we are standing face to face with temptation, one thing we often forget to consider is the lasting effect it likely will have on others. We might think that no one else knows, but many times that is not the case. We might think that no one else cares and sometimes that might be the case. Yet most of the time people do care...even if they struggle with the same sin. Giving in to the temptation that we are struggling with might very well lead someone else down the same dark road. It might cause someone else to give up the fight and give in to the temptation. It might cause others to give up faith all together because it can leave the idea that if Christians are involved in that then Christianity must not help. People of the world can have the idea that Christians are no different than worldly people, they just claim to be better on the surface, and sadly this is sometimes the case. This hypocrisy leads others to despise religion and religious people. This hypocrisy damages effectiveness of the church in leading others to the truth. Ultimately, this hypocrisy will lead Christians to be lost.
Instead of putting on a front of being righteous while still living like the world, let us admit to our sins and shortcoming and leave them. Let us work together to overcome our faults, to restore one another to truth, and to bear each others burdens (Galatians 6:1-2). We are not perfect. We know that we are not perfect. Yet we can be perfect. We can do right. Each and every time we are imperfect, we put our own soul in jeopardy and set an example that leads those around us away from Christ. We are to be a light in the world and hypocrisy is a force that pushes ourselves and others towards darkness. Admit the truth. Admit when you are wrong. Change when you are wrong. And set an example that leads yourself and others to light.
