| May 30,
2006
Hypocrit?
Mathew 23:13; "Woe to you, teachers of the
law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom
of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter,
nor will you let those enter who are trying to. -NIV
Like I was saying yesterday, people are constantly
challenging what I put on this site. It usually goes
something like this. Why is insurance (or job helps,
or rock music, or bathing suits, or ... well you get
the point someone objects to something) on your site
that is not Christian.
This question is basically an attempt to say “You
are a hypocrite just like all the other Christians
I meet and I have now found my reason not to listen
to you”. The underlying question is actually
a fair one. I routinely meet people who claim Christ
but live so very different and this witness has served
to drive many people away from Gods Love. By living
this way they serve to give a bad impression of all
Christianity. On the other hand I also meet many who
live what they claim and yet are still held up to
this “impossible” standard by non-christians.
Is it hypocritical to claim Christ but still watch
sports? To Follow Jesus and follow the drama on CSI?
To believe in a God who heals and protects but still
go to a doctor and have insurance? I say the answer
to all three of these and many other questions like
it is NO. We live in this world and do not have to
be part of it but we also have a right and even an
obligation to understand it. God never asked us to
give up being who he created us to be. We are called
to reach out to the world and spread the Good News
of Gods love and deliverance. How can we do that if
we do not even understand the world we live in. Nobody
will listen to you until after you have demonstrated
that you will first listen to them. You need to be
able to hear what they are saying and where they have
been and if your only response to their lives is a
blank stare of incomprehension then how do you expect
them to listen to your news of life and love with
anything but the same blank stare. I have been trying
to link the real world to Gods Message throughout
this site and in the real world people buy things
like pet medicine and glasses, insurance and clothing,
they need to get trained for and find jobs and they
forget to get a birthday present until the last minute
and need to get a good idea fast. That is the real
world and God wants us to live in it for his glory
can we do that by ignoring those problems of the people
we meet?
Can we truly convince the people we meet that we
do not face these same problems? What is more hypocritical
to lie and pretend we do not have a life to deal with
or to pretend that such things do not exist? I know
I cannot lie so I will continue to have a site that
not only glorifies God but also acknowledges the daily
life he has given us to live in.
|
