Many times, the Christian is first to be called a hypocrite. I don’t even know when I became one myself. It was my atheist friend who reminded me I didn’t conform to a belief I held. (I never even told him I held such a belief).
These atheists, according to Ravi Zacharias, are good at smelling rotten eggs rather than laying good ones. Jesus met a lot of hypocrites in his day. In fact, I have a friend who’s met many more hypocrites than Jesus did. She always says something like this: ‘you guys are hypocrites.’
When Nana Tornado was interviewed on the Breakfast Eve, Tv Africa, it was the same thing he called Christians— they are [a bunch of] hypocrites! That’s all we get for being hypocrites. They call us by name and point fingers at us. It’s interesting, however, that the New Testament doesn’t stay quiet on this matter. In fact, Jesus himself warns us against the spirit of hypocrisy. I wrote in one of my articles that it was my prayer topic.
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The main problem with hypocrites is conformity: ‘You who preach against stealing, do you steal?’ It’s not enough to preach against something when your own life doesn’t back it up. Biblically, the truth begins with you. Jesus didn’t say, I speak the truth; he said, I am the truth. And he’s called us not only to speak the truth but to live truthfully.
The Apostle Paul in Romans 15:18 says: ‘I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done.’ He understood, by this, what it meant to be a hypocrite. It’s no surprise that he confronted the hypocritical behavior of Peter. This is how, I think, we can deal with hypocrites: confront them. Jesus confronted many hypocrites in his day. Paul writes in Galatians 2:14 that even Barnabas was led astray by Peter’s hypocrisy. Could this be the reason many, I think, walk away from the church? Nana Tornado may have been a fine Christian but was led away, possibly, by some hypocrites.
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