Hypocrisy

Jesus talked about hypocrisy quite a bit when referring to the religious leaders in His day. Yet even today, hypocrisy is one of the major criticisms unbelievers have of the church. A common claim is that the people who go to church think they're better than the people who don't go to church. It sounds something like "I'm not going to church. It's full of hypocrites." One pastor's reply to this is: "There's always room for one more." Think about this - to say "I'm not a hypocrite" or to point someone else out as a hypocrite is most likely hypocrisy.

What is hypocrisy? I heard a pastor talk about the origin of the word. It originated in the theater where stage actors would play 2 parts in a production. They carried a mask with 2 profiles. When they were the one character, they faced left. When they were the other character, they faced right. The term two-faced came from this. The definition of two-faced is insincerity, pretense, or a false claim to virtue. We put on pretenses to be associated with good characteristics that we don't possess... or to be dis-associated from bad characteristics that we do possess.

This Wednesday we are going to pray about hypocrisy. That we can get rid of any pretense or insincerity we may have. We don't want our hypocrisy to be a roadblock to the seekers in our lives. Our talk and our walk need to be consistent with what's in our heart.

Have a great week and a great fast.
Your brother,
Bob