Have you ever heard the complaint that Christians are hypocrites and that is why a person doesn’t believe or won’t go to Church? Have you ever uttered that complaint? If so, I want to explain why you are right. In fact, I am a hypocrite.
I know darn well that I am supposed to love my neighbor as myself. In fact, I occasionally preach this very thing. Do I do it? Not to my satisfaction and certainly not to God’s. There are plenty more examples. For instance, I know the love of money is the root of all evil, and you can’t serve God and money, and it is difficult for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; but I would still like a raise. I could go on with examples and never leave myself as the illustration. You get the point. But if you think for one moment that God hasn’t made major improvements in me or that I don’t truly believe what I teach, then I am going to have to tell you that you are dead wrong.
Christians are hypocritical to some extent because Christians are people, and people are sinners. We will continue to be sinners until we are dead, that is exactly why we need to be Christians. We need the forgiveness that comes through a connection to Jesus Christ. Without it we are doomed, and, incidentally, so are you. It is aggravating to God, and the general public, and to ourselves that our sinful nature makes us act hypocritically as often as it does. I take solace only in the grace of Christ and the improvements that the Holy Spirit has made in time with me. For example, in the past, the paragraph above probably would have included a few vulgar terms, especially in the last sentence.
Another example, that I must attribute to God’s work it me, is the genuine concern I have for all who dismiss Christianity and Christians as hypocritical. It is not insincere in the least that I desire to help you past this excuse to receive the forgiveness of God and eternal life. It is my reason for writing and my deepest desire. This is God’s love for you spilling over into me. The natural Tom Wenig would have just said, “_____ them”; I assure you.
The Apostle Paul put it this way, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing…Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! Neither Paul nor I are endorsing bad behavior by Christians. There are congregations I wouldn’t join because petty, clannish, self-righteous behavior has become a part of the culture; but that is not the rule. So please reconsider joining the hypocrites. We have at least that much in common.
Giving Christ 