“The church is full of hypocrites.” Yup, two kinds in fact. There are sinners who sincerely trust Jesus died for their sins but still commit sins that other people see. Those are moments of hypocrisy. Second kind: Sinners who go through church motions but don’t have crushed hearts to see their personal need of a Savior. A man in his youth was so turned off by what he saw a church-going businessman do that the rest of his life he wouldn’t consider going to church. Of which hypocrisy was that businessman guilty? God only knows.
When King David lusted after another man’s wife, committed adultery and arranged her husband’s death, he never imagined that he had done anything wrong…until Nathan told him this story. A rich man wouldn’t butcher one of his own sheep to entertain a guest but commandeered a poor man’s one lamb. Now David saw hypocrisy, the rich man’s! “The man who has done this deserves to die.” Nathan’s retort: “You are the man.” (2 Samuel 12:5, 7) What we think are hypocrisies in others might be insights on ourselves. “You have no excuse, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.” (Romans 2:1)
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