Have you ever been called a hypocrite? If so, did you resent it? Well, you should not have, because you and all of us are hypocrites. Why? We claim to be Christians and find ourselves doing wrong and saying wrong things, if we are honest about ourselves. And that, my friends, makes us hypocrites every one.

Even the great Paul, the best and most faithful Christian the world has yet seen, had to admit of his own hypocrisy. For example, in Romans 7:14-19, he says, “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” If the best man, next to Jesus, had to admit this, where does it leave us?

We now live in a godless and decadent society. We live in an age of selfishness and oversensitivity. No Christian should be overly sensitive about earthly things that don’t matter at all in the long run. Jesus told us, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12). 

Christians are still being persecuted today. Fortunately in our country, so far, it usually only amounts to verbal abuse. They call us simple-minded, bigoted, hypocritical, etc. They are right about our hypocrisy, but totally wrong otherwise. We are not simple-minded. Some of the greatest geniuses have been Christians, such as Galileo, Isaac Newton and many others. And we are not bigots because our stubborn belief is in God’s own Word, the Holy Bible.

Why are we all hypocrites and all evil? We have an old, evil nature, which Paul calls the “Old Man.” We cannot get rid of it while alive on the earth. Our old nature succumbs to Satan’s wiles and suggestions. We all fall to his temptations, though we would all be great Christians if only we could. We will be one day. After we physically die, God will perfect (glorify) all true believers in Christ. Until that day we simply have to do the best we can. We need to be patient with other people and with ourselves. As Jesus commanded, we are to love God first and foremost and others (including enemies) as ourselves.