Q: If Christianity is so great, why are there so many Christian hypocrites who know and even teach The Truth, but don't walk it out in their lives? (mail question)
A: "because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." (Matthew 24:12) This Scripture is saying that in the end times (which is now) "because sin shall abound, the Love of Christians will grow cold." A Christian hypocrite is a person whose words and deeds do not match. They are not living the truth, but are two-faced.
Jesus had some hard things to say to the hypocrites and pretenders. He told them they were like dishes that were clean on the outside but on the inside they were full of greed and self-indulgence (Mt 23:25). In other words, they put on a good show for people. Living our Christianity as a show for others is like washing a cup on the outside only. We come across to others, especially non-believers and teenagers, as phonies. Our lives need to be examples of what we say; otherwise, people are not going to want what we have. The reason many non-believers have rejected the church is because they have not yet seen the real church. When they do see true Christianity, they will desire it because this walk of faith will reflect the way people were created to live. Church is twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
So, as Christians, how do we become genuine and allow God's Spirit to flow through us without being quenched? How do we keep from being phonies and hypocrites?
When we are "born again" we not only receive a new spirit and a new heart, but we also receive a new supernatural willpower. This new willpower gives us the authority and the power to set our self aside and choose God's Will, even when we don't want to, don't feel like it or don't think it will work. This is why our new willpower is the "key" to our whole Christian walk - it's what enables us to put God's Life from our hearts into our lives, regardless of how we feel, what we think or what we desire. Will we yield our choices to God and His Will, or will we yield them to our "self" to do our own will? It's our willpower - moment by moment - that determines whose life will be lived in our souls - either God's or our own. When we choose "self," that's when we come across to others as hypocrites.
As Christians we can be honest with God and say, "I don't want to love this person anymore. I don't want to forgive this person. I hate this person right now. I am fearful of what is going to happen. But, I don't want to follow what these thoughts and emotions are telling me. I want to follow what You want me to do. So, by faith, I give these negative thoughts to You for I know I have Your authority to say, like Jesus did in Matthew 26:39, 'Not my will, but Thine.'"
Then we can know, by faith, that we are cleansed vessels and that God has been freed to perform His Will in and through us. We don't have to "feel" our choices; we just have to be willing to make those choices. God then does the rest. In His timing, God aligns our feelings with our choices. We are not responsible to change our negative feelings and thoughts. There is no way we can do that! We are only responsible to put in charge the Person who can change our feelings, and that's God.
When we make emotional choices to follow what we want, think and desire, we are at that moment pleasing "self" and not God, which then opens us up to the arrows of the enemy. Our self-life has taken over. We walk saying we are Christians but yet are manifesting our own thoughts, emotions, and desires and not God's Life at all. This not only grieves God, but it also makes us come across as hypocrites to others.
As Christians we don't want to "improve," "patch up," or "fix" our self-life. That's psychology! We don't want to be a better "us" (self). We want to learn how to "set that self aside" so Jesus can live His Life through us. So it's not that we are to "copy" or imitate Jesus' Life; rather, we are simply to exchange lives with Him! We give Him our life; He then gives us His. Father God, thank you for showing us what is false in us, yet always making a way for us to become whole.In the name of Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb.
Debbie Holland
King's High Way Manager
