I’ve been called a hypocrite by someone I trusted to know my character.  Given I trusted this person with really knowing me, I was initially angry and hurt by such an assumption.  However, after I calmed down, I had to ask myself that question.  I can say (after much prayer) without a doubt, I am not a hypocrite.

To be able to call someone a hypocrite, you have to really know your Bible.  And not just the surface stuff.  I mean really dig down deep.  The Sadducees and Pharisees were definitely hypocrites.  Why?  It wasn’t because they quoted the Word back and forth.  Nor was it because they religiously went to church, then went home to live opposite the words that their duties as priests and harbingers of the Old Testament way.  I’m quite sure most of them did the best they could to live the way the Law commanded.  But without true relationship with God, they would always remain bound to the Law and fail because they were trying to follow rules, rather than cultivate a relationship with Daddy God.  You know what truly made them hypocrites?  
 
 

What made these students and executors of the Law hypocrites was the fact they knew they would do wrong…yet would not acknowledge it.  Or they’d make excuses for it, rather than just accepting the fact that they messed up.  They would, of course point fingers at others WITHOUT looking down deep at themselves…but that was only part of the total sum of what made them hypocritical.  What ultimately made them hypocrites was the fact that their hearts were judgmental.  Not the fact that they spoke out on acts not in keeping with the Law.  That is a duty of every single Christian believer… to speak out.  Because if you do not speak out, ppl will not be aware.  And once someone is aware, they are accountable.  And your job is done in the informing department.  Of course, I’m over simplifying here, but follow along with me.  There is a point.  Trust me.

Hypocrisy works much like repentance.  Repentance is to turn away from sin, not to do it again.  Of course, we sin daily because it’s our nature.  We try not to.  We fall short.  That is where God’s grace comes in, and the blood of Jesus comes into play.  Through a repentant heart sin is erased.  See, it’s not when you see Trina coming in from the club.  True, she shouldn’t have been there.  But, if the Lord sees her heart is contrite, in conjunction with not going out to the club again…that would denote repentance.  Her not going out to the club again is fruit of her repentance.  That’s not to say she is not tempted or doesn’t have a struggle with going out there again.  That’s not to say she will never ever make the choice to go back to a club again.  What that repentance means is right there in that time frame, she has decided she will actively strive not to.  That she is sorry she did something displeasing to God.  Much in the same way, some of us do things to tick off our spouse or significant others…but sometimes, your humanity…the very thing that makes you human…your ability to act out gets you caught up.  And there you are in sin again.  I used this illustration as an attitude of the heart to demonstrate the same type of attitude in hypocrisy.

Repentance works the same way as hypocrisy, only hypocrisy works in reverse.  Even if you never, ever say a word about someone else’s behavior…but you harbor a judgmental attitude about what they do…you’re a hypocrite.  Hypocrisy is merely a symptom of the root cause…judgment.  Sure, we see Saints and Ain’ts e’rday.  Sure, some of us struggle with sex, cigarettes, alcohol, and other such things.  Some of it is due to ignorance.  Others of us struggle with it because it’s a temptation.  But if you are a Christian man or woman, and you proclaim that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, that God is your Father, etc…but you mess up and fall short.  Does that make you a hypocrite?  NO.  It makes you a human.  If you repeatedly do it, you might need some counseling.  However, if your heart is truly to believe and please God…you are NOT a hypocrite…although in any relationship, ppl get sick of the frag…and the Lord is no different.  He just has a lot more patience than most of us.  And he knows when he’s being taken advantage of.

What we forget when in the throes of hypocrisy is that people are people.  And if you’re calling someone a hypocrite, and you are not God/Jesus/Holy Spirit…chances are, you’re one too.  In short, watch the things you call a spade.  Everything is not what it seems.  Unless you are imbued with the discernment God has, you cannot say anyone is a hypocrite without imposing that sentence on yourself first…because you’re judging someone to be able to let that come out of your mouth.

Now if a person really IS a hypocrite, you are bound by scripture to approach that person, in love.  That means without malice.  Without trying to tear down their self esteem.  Your job is to help expose (discreetly) and help correct.  God and that person really brings about the correction.  But your job is to expose them to themselves because Satan works in cover.  I’m getting off on another subject that I can’t get into cuz I’m at work.

Quit calling people hypocrites.  And just so everyone know…every spiritual post I put out here is for myself first, then everyone else.  I had to actually go to God in prayer to check myself…and the answer I got is what I just wrote.  So I’m sharing it with everyone.