Are Christians Hypocritical? Yes they are. But aren’t we all?

One of the biggest things that I hear about Christians is how hypocritical we all are. How we say one thing and yet do another. But are we truly any different than anyone else? I think as humans we are so programmed of being this way from the day we are born. And as we grow it only gets worse. Lets look at a few examples

One of the biggest things that I hear about Christians is how hypocritical we all are. How we say one thing and yet do another. But are we truly any different than anyone else? I think as humans we are so programmed of being this way from the day we are born. And as we grow it only gets worse. Lets look at a few examples

How many times as a child have we said to our parents that we were going to do something or we were going to change the way we did something, or stop a bad habit? At the moment we utter the words of our promise we truly deep in our heart believe that we are going to change or actually go through with the promise that we made. We had every intent of doing what we said. But as time went by and other things grabbed our attention we either forgot what we promised or we felt some rational reason as to why our promise needed to change or worst yet, our old habits got the best of us.

How many times as a friend did we tell someone that we were going to do something or promised something to someone? At the time we uttered the words of our promise we had every intention to follow through. But we wake up that morning and either don’t feel good or other things happened and we rationalized how we couldn’t do what we said.

How many times as an employee did we say to our boss or promise during an interview that we would do a certain function or provide a certain service. At the time we uttered the words of our promise we had every intention to follow through. Then once we got the job we found some rational reason why we didn’t need to provide that service or perform a certain function or at least to the full ability as expected because the job did not meet our expectations.

How many times as a spouse did we promise our loved one that we would do something or promise something whether because of something we wanted from our spouse or because we wanted to do something neat and different for them. Or we were going to change our ways. At the time we uttered the words of our promise we had every intention to follow through. Yet we didn’t. As time went by and other things grabbed our attention we either forgot what we promised or we felt some rational reason as to why our promise needed to change or worst yet, our old habits got the best of us.

How many times as a parent did we say to our children that we would do something with them or promise that if they did “this” we would provide “that”. At the time we uttered the words of our promise we had every intention to follow through. But as always something changed our we switched our viewpoint or worst life just got in the way and prevented it from happening.

Then as parents we set the example for our children that this is ok and they follow in our footsteps and the whole process starts over.

We, as the human race, all do this. Both Christians and non-Christians. So why would it not be any different that when a Christian utters the words of change in their life or how accepting Jesus into their life will change how their life is going to be? Or we tell someone about what accepting Jesus as our Lord and savior did for our lives, WHY DON’T you do the same. Or now that I have Christ in my life I will never be like that anymore. At the time we uttered the words of our promise we had every intention to follow through. But as always life either got in the way or worst yet our old habits got the best of us. So why is this so different than any of the other times that we are hypocritical l?

Why do you not see headlines saying “ Hypocritical Parents Promise Child Reward for Eating Broccoli and Don’t Follow Through. Film at 11” “Employee Accused of Not Working to Full Potential” “Spouse Accused of not Following Through on a Promise” I believe the reason for this is two things. One we all do it and it has actually become so second nature that no ones really cares, and two it has to do with the message.

When most Christians are blamed for being hypocritical it has to do with saying something from the Gospel. God’s Word has a way of either calming us down or getting under our skin. When we are calmed we don’t say a thing. We may even thank the person for the encouraging words. When they get under our skin we react out of hurt, bitterness and worst yet from the comfort of our sin that was just exposed to us. Our brain processes the words and immediately we think, who is this person to call me a sinner, why just last week I saw them do the same thing, or I watched them do something similar.

The thing that is lost or misunderstood is that non-Christians, and worst yet Christians, don’t understanding that following Christ is a process of change. Change, as we all know, does not always happen quickly and sometimes does not last, as much as we want it to happen right now and last for ever. But as Christians we should, at least, understand the value of Grace.

So why are Christians the main people getting the bad rap for being hypocritical? After all politicians do it all the time. They promise something during their campaign then when elected it becomes a different agenda.

It is the message. The Good News of Jesus Christ.

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart.

Sometimes the sword cuts deep, so we blame the messenger, we call them names.