Hypocrites for Jesus
A few months back, I attended a conference designed to help church members be more focused on creating an attitude of ministry on Sunday. We talked about how to do the things churches do on Sunday. Breakouts included how to welcome people and create a great atmosphere for worship and spiritual growth.
Create Environments Where Faith Thrives
In our travels, my wife and I have had problems finding churches where we felt welcome. So we appreciate the effort. Churches can be unfriendly. A community of Christ-followers should desire to create an environment that encourages people to grow their faith and their relationship with Jesus. Eternity is at stake. This is important work.
However, a common objection to Christianity is the hypocrisy of its practitioners. Often people who object to how we practice our faith credit us with acting one way on Sunday, or at church, and another way when we’re away from the building, at work, at the lake, at the grocery, at a movie theater, or at a sporting event. People quickly compare how we act at a little league game or in a business meeting to what we do on Sunday. When those actions don’t line up, we are guilty of being hypocrites.
Live Your Faith Weekdays, Too
Could we spend some energy encouraging church members and Christ followers to live their faith at work? I lost my temper at work just a few days later. I used to be worse than I was that day. But even so, two of my coworkers knew I was not having a good time. They were aware of my frustration. Did my reaction demonstrate my faith and make Jesus visible? Did my speech and my demeanor point them to him?
If, as followers of Jesus, we act differently when we’re together than we do when we’re on our own, we deserve the label of “hypocrites.” I deserved it that day. I hope to live more of my minutes depending on Jesus and displaying a life transformed by faith in him. That is, I want to trust him to handle the challenges I encounter. More and more, I long to have the same purpose Monday that I have on Sunday or any other time.
The only antidote is trusting in Jesus. The more we trust him, the more time we spend living our eternal life now. Stay tuned to my next post where I discuss what to do when we fail.
Photo by Hitesh Choudhary from Pexels
