WEDNESDAY'S WORD - HYPOCRITE - Sadell Bradley 10/14/2020

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD

HYPOCRITE

Sadell Bradley

10/14/2020

"Hypocrites in the Church? Yes, and in the lodge and at the home. Don't hunt through the Church for a hypocrite. Go home and look in the mirror. Hypocrites? Yes. See that you make the number one less." - Billy Sunday

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"Everybody is a hypocrite. You can't live on this planet without being a hypocrite." - Paul Watson HYPOCRISY is the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. The Greek hupokrisis means 'acting of a theatrical part'; to pretend; under judgment. Francis Frangipane in his book, 'Holiness, Truth, and the Presence of God' said, "Jesus did not condemn sinners; He condemned hypocrites. A hypocrite is a person who excuses his/her own sin while condemning the sins of another. They are not merely 'two faced,' for even the best of us must work at single-mindedness in all instances. A hypocrite... is one who refuses to admit that he/she is at times two-faced, thereby pretending a righteousness he/she fails to live."

"ANYONE CAN JUDGE...BUT CAN YOU SAVE? "- Francis Frangipane In the Gospels, Jesus was big on calling the religious leaders hypocrites. He called them out for honoring God with their lips, but their hearts being far from Him (Mark 7:6); for looking beautiful on the outside while their insides were dead and unclean (Matthew 23:27); for fasting and praying for show, and only being concerned with receiving praise from people. (Matthew 6:16) Jesus taught that we should continually practice SELF-examination - - not OTHER examination. He commanded His disciples, "Do not judge, or you will be judged. 2For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while there is still a beam in your own eye? 5You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." (Matthew 7:1-5)

GOD OPPOSES THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. (James 4:6)

The antonyms for hypocrisy are honesty, sincerity, and genuineness. The antidote to hypocrisy is humility - a modest or low view of your own importance. Esteeming others better than ourselves would be a welcome Biblical change right about now. (Phil 2:1-3) We are all hypocrites at one time or another. We fabricate images and try to make them appear true. We deflect from our own faults by highlighting those of others to prop ourselves up and make ourselves feel better. We're not tentative in our opinions, nor are we gracious, kind, or humble. We can't truly be like Christ while clinging to our hypocrisies. Let's be real... we know that we nor the positions we so staunchly hold onto are entirely righteous. We know we're not presenting the full counsel of God in all of our ideologies. Why be so smug and sanctimonious when we could choose to be humble?