Sometimes I hear words come of my mouth and I think, “Really, Jerry, you can say that with a straight face knowing what’s in your heart?” Then, too, there are moments when I have feelings that are inconsistent with my beliefs. For example, I accept Jesus’ call to live lovingly and with profound forgiveness. I make it my goal to act in love. However, when Ann’s (name changed!) name comes up in conversation, my emotions are not those of man who is forgiving. I struggle with feelings of resentment. I confess that asking God to bless her life is not easy for me. I know I should reach out to Ann and attempt a conversation that might lead to a change in my heart, yet that has not happened.
We all have gaps between what we profess to believe and how we act. For some, they are great chasms like the Grand Canyon. For others, it’s more like cracks in the sidewalk. Some people go through life apparently clueless about the truth, hurting others, deceiving themselves, playing the part of a fool, and living a lie. Jesus reserved His most scathing remarks for religious frauds who use their pious talk to conceal sin-filled hearts! "You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned. … Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that’s wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons? “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony." (Matthew 23:15, 24-25, The Message)
Hypocrisy is more than silly. It’s sinful. It offends God because when we make excuses for it in the name of just ‘being human,’ we cut ourselves off from His grace to forgive us and His power to change us from the inside out. Allowing ourselves to live one way while claiming to believe something else creates a division in us which the Scripture says makes us "a double minded man - unstable in all his ways." (James 1:8, KJV) In the more radical cases, hypocrisy leads to mental illness, a break with reality! This sobering verse calls us to change: "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity" (Proverbs 11:3, NIV)
Integrity is what God desires from us- being solid, the same inside and out, with thought, word, and action aligned. That does not mean you or I will suddenly become flawless. Oddly enough, David, a man whose sins were grievous is called a man of integrity in the Scripture. Why? Because when his sin was pointed out to him, when his hypocrisy was challenged, he cried out: "You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair. I’ve been out of step with you for a long time, in the wrong since before I was born. … God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life." (Psalm 51:4-5,10, The Message) Confession heals us when it is deep, true, and desires change.
Are you living a lie? Is hypocrisy stealing your credibility, creating a guilty conscience, and keeping you from knowing the peace of God?
Here is a word from the Word. "Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." (James 4:8-10, NIV) Go to the Cross. Kneel before the One who entered into our lives fully, “who became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God.” And find forgiveness and acceptance that allows you to abandon hypocrisy.
_________________
Change my heart, oh God,
Make it ever true.
Change my heart, oh God,
May I be like You.
You are the potter,
I am the clay.
Mold me and make me,
This is what I pray.
Change My Heart Oh God
Espinosa, Eddie
© 1982 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing (Admin. by Music Services)
CCLI License No. 810055
No comments:
Post a Comment