The Christian Hypocrite

This is the message we heard from Jesus* and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkenss; we are not practicing the truth. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 1 John 1:5-6, 8 (NLT)

How often have you heard someone state that Christians are all a bunch of hyprocrites? Or some variation of that? I've heard it many times, and the sad part is that at one time I said those same words. I felt like Christians thought they could do whatever they wanted and it would be ok, because they'd just ask forgiveness and go on like nothing ever happened. What's even sadder is that many people that call themselves "Christian" do just that. We live as though we can sin and it's alright so long as we ask forgiveness at the end of the day. This is NOT the way to live!

No, we are not perfect, only forgiven by a perfect God. But that does NOT mean that we can fulfill our sinful desires without consequence. You cannot be in fellowship with the Lord if you are behaving in willful disobedience to the Lord.

Ask yourself today, do I want to further the Kingdom of God by living as pure a life as I can, or do I want hinder someone's spiritual growth and possible salvation by giving the impression of hypocrisy? Are you a hypocrite, or a true Christ follower? A lover of all and treating them as such, and not just a lover of your own selfish desires?

Lord, I pray today, that I mirror your pure true love, by being as pure in my deeds and actions as I can humanly be. Cause the Holy Spirit to move within me so that my life will be a reflection of a true Christ follower. Not the phoniness of a "holier than thou". I pray this in Jesus' Holy Name.
Amen