Hypocrite! Who Me?

“Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.”
Francois De La Rochefoucauld

If our descriptions of a hypocrite could be turned into colors, I wonder what kind of colors they would be. I am pretty sure we could not get black to be black enough and I have my doubts I could get a sickly green to be a “sicklier greener.” However, what is most disturbing to me about any and all of our imaginative colors and descriptions of hypocrisy is that the mental picture is of someone I know – it’s me. As someone has said “there is a bit (or more) of hypocrisy in the best of us.” These comments are not offered as an excuse or justification for hypocrisy; they are merely to remind us that each of us have or will misrepresent ourselves to others. The worst misrepresentation we can make is to ourselves. (Luke 18:9-14)

I might add there is nothing like a hypocrite to make us a hypocrite. It is not that I shouldn’t despise the hypocrisy of others; it is that I should make every effort to clean up my own act first. Surely we must get the log out of our own eye if we are going to be of any significant help in getting the speck out of another’s eye (Matthew 7:1-5). Oh, the breaches we could repair in relationships if only we first despised our own hypocrisy. “With his mouth the godless man (hypocrite – KJV) would destroy his neighbor…” (Proverbs 11:9)

We all need to be fair and honest in our evaluations and judgments of others. However, we cannot be unless we first examine ourselves honestly. Otherwise, we will prove to be the biggest hypocrite of all. (Ouch! I needed this) Let your light shine, examine yourself according to God’s word (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Of Honest Doubts

Doubts are healthful, if they are honest. As one has wisely observed, "Doubt is the spade that uncovers the truth." Honest doubts prod us to be vigilant in our search for truth. People with honest doubt sometimes err in the pursuit of truth. However, if we are going to remain spiritually alive, we will not remain in that error if we are honest. Spiritually alive people who err in the pursuit of truth will show themselves to be alive spiritually not only by examining their beliefs when challenged, but by also correcting their beliefs when wrong. Thus, they show themselves to be in the faith (II Cor. 13:5). If the the longest journey any of us will make is coming to ourselves (Luke 15:17), then the most critical step of that journey is the first. The first step for that long journey is an honest self-examination not doubting the truth but recognizing the possibility I could be wrong!