viewoutsidethepew

People can fool other people a lot of the time. But people live like God is stupid, blind or on vacation.

Committees hold closed meetings so that they can avoid accountability. On Sundays congregations meet behind closed doors so most people have no idea what goes on. People pray long prayers and even teach Bible lessons, but they will tear your guts out in business dealings or if you challenge their power or public persona.

Beware of Hypocrites (Photo credit: outtacontext)

“A wicked person puts up a bold front, but a decent person’s way of life is [their] own security” (Proverbs 21:29 God’s Word). And yes, that fools some people.

However, “make no mistake about this: You can never make a fool out of God. Whatever you plant is what you’ll harvest. If you plant in {the soil of} your corrupt nature, you will harvest destruction. But if you plant in {the soil of} your spiritual nature, you will harvest everlasting life” (Galatians 6:7-8 God’s Word).

Hypocrisy, or disconnect between your stage role and your real life character, shows an arrogance that disconnects a person from God. Is your fakery worth losing heaven over?

“Whoever covers over…sins does not prosper. Whoever confesses and abandons them receives compassion. Blessed is the one who is always fearful {of sin}, but whoever is hard-hearted falls into disaster” (Proverbs 28:13-14 God’s Word).

So what do we do about it? “If we say, “We aren’t sinful” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. God is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us from everything we’ve done wrong. If we say, “We have never sinned,” we turn God into a liar and his Word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10 God’s Word, italics added).

Religion can’t give this. The love of God in Jesus Christ offers it.

And here is hope, “But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us. We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God’s kindness that saved you.) God has brought us back to life together with Christ Jesus and has given us a position in heaven with him. He did this through Christ Jesus out of his generosity to us in order to show his extremely rich kindness in the world to come. God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God. It’s not the result of anything you’ve done, so no one can brag about it. God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do” (Ephesians 2:4-10 God’s Word).

So you can fake it, or make it. If you make it, you have it made – forever.