Am I being hypocritical if I worship God or do something good if I'm not feeling in the mood? Is it hypocritical to show love and speak kindly to a spouse when what you would really like to do is to bluntly pour forth your anger?
Nobody wants to be a hypocrite. Jesus breathed out harsh words of judgment on those who were hypocrites.1 Thus under the banner of being authentic and avoiding being a hypocrite, have you ever known someone to feel justified in abstaining from what they know they ought to do or perhaps feeling justified for maliciously "telling it like it is" and in the process causing deep wounds?
Perhaps there is a need for a closer look at what Jesus condemned. Jesus condemned those who were pretending to be righteous but were actually full of self-indulgence, lawlessness and uncleanness.2 Hypocrites are motivated by their desire to gain the praise of men. What they do is for show.3 To put this another way, Jesus' teachings condemned those who were wicked but pretended to be righteous because they were seeking the praise of others.
There is a huge difference between who people really are and how anybody might be feeling at any given moment. Who I am is not based upon what I am feeling. Although some Christians might feel guilty because they have a problem in forgiving themselves for the past, in Christ they are forgiven. Conversely, others might sincerely feel saved, but if they have not yet relied on Christ then they have not yet been cleansed of their sins.
Jesus condemned those who would try to act righteously in order to be praised by others when the truth was they were full of deadmen's bones. Jesus never condemned serving God and fulfilling our Christian responsibilities if we did not feel excited about doing it.
Interestingly, the final judgment is never described in terms of whether we were true to our feelings. It is repeatedly ascribed to whether or not we were faithful in doing our Father's will.
Why am I spilling all this ink on acting differently than how we may be feeling? Because there are times when Christian husbands, wives, friends, neighbors, employees or employers need to do what is right even when they are not feeling like it. There are times when love demands forgiveness, but the heart seeks revenge. There are times when relationships will not be healed and restored until someone lays down the weapons and humbly seeks healing. And when we make that choice to serve God and bring Him glory through our lives even when we do not feel like doing what is right, we are being true to who we are and whose we are.
1 Matthew 23:13-33
2Matthew 23:25-28
3Matthew 6:2,5,16
4Matthew 24:42-25:46
Barry Newton © 2001
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