How God Handles Hypocrites

Hint:  He does it in His time and without our help.

At some point we all renege on our word. Does that make us bad people? Of course not – only someone who has made a mistake. However, this is the very definition of hypocrite:  a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings. When we pass our own flawed judgment as the only right way, then we fall into the trap of hypocrisy and separate ourselves not only from each other but also the God we serve and worship daily.

Below is a passage from Romans 2:1-16:

1Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

2But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

3And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

4Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

5But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

6Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

7To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

8But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

9Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

10But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

11For there is no respect of persons with God.

12For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

13(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

14For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

15Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

16In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

What else are hypocrites? We (I am including myself) are experts at blaming others and cowards at facing an equal fate. We are also quick to point at the wooden sliver in someone else’s eye as a log sits blindly to us a quarter of a mile from our eye for all to see. Call it whatever you want, but hypocrisy is still a sin in the Holy Bible:  It was when Jesus walked everywhere and still is to this day. A more modern example comes from the Game of Thrones series when Cersei Lannister was forced out of town naked for all to see once her treacherous empire was overtaken during Season 5.

They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. - Titus 1:16

Remember Nicodemus, the Pharisee who asked Jesus what it took to be born again?

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. - John 3:3

To compare him of someone in our day, one may look to the ivory towers to Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, Henry Louis Gates or Michael Eric Dyson, all of whom are top intellectuals whose opinions are sought by the mainstream for sound bites and extended interviews alike pertaining to the condition of black America. Nicodemus may have been a master of Jewish law and an adherent to all of its commandments, but he was clueless when it came to the spiritual transformation necessary for embarking on the journey due to looking at things from a purely secular angle. For him, being born again meant a physical re-entering his earthly mother’s womb and going through the birth process.

Dude just didn’t get it – and that is not entirely a bad thing. Not all of us understand the gravitas of becoming a new man or woman. Does it mean we are instantly perfect? Goodness, no! The new life we lead allows us to acknowledge our own flawed existence as we strive to draw closer to what thus saith the Lord every day.

When we have supremacy of our own religion yet deny the power of the relationship thanks to our ritualistic tendencies, then we become hypocrites.

When we are more concerned about what our brother or sister looks like than looking at his character, then we become hypocrites.

When we become so comfortable in our being that we are oblivious to the world’s problems, then we become hypocrites.

When we jest at the man or woman walking into the liquor or tobacco stores while we use the drive-through windows to obtain our bottles of Crown Royal or gorge ourselves at the local all-you-can-eat buffets, then we become hypocrites.

When we visit our houses of worship at 11 am on Sunday morning to feel good and come noon or 2 pm, we are back to raising more hell than those we supposedly are not like, then we are hypocrites.

I’m also going to hit some of the so-called religious folks:  $2 is not a tithe for adults:  It’s an offering for children. God explicitly spells out the principle of giving our first fruits of our labor, not the last $5 after a riotous Friday and Saturday nights on the town.

When we choose to leave restaurant servers paltry tips and snide notes about them as individuals, then we are also hypocrites because we are forsaking the least of us. Dear Arkansans:  15 percent is not that great of a tip. Do better or stay at home.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, nearly every remaining candidate will pause to honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in blanket statements for self-gratification, to pretend they give a darn about black lives only to return to the trails the very next day to spew divisive rhetoric to burgeoning sectors of America’s population about their fellow citizens. These fake leaders have stymied progress at every corner – from chipping away at the Voting Rights Act, gerrymandering congressional districts to maintain a specific status quo, loudly criticize the decision makers only to continue identical policies, and establishing laws meant to further disenfranchise minorities and the poor alike.

If it’s good for the goose, then it is good for the gander. After all, what happens in the dark will eventually come to light.

Want to know how to combat hypocrisy? Keep reading – I’ll tell you.

We do it too. Don’t be too quick to judge someone as there will be times when you do change our minds on something you once said. Life is a long journey and we should allow ourselves the opportunities for our views to evolve from black-and-white to varying shades of gray. However, we must be steadfast in sticking to our moral code.

For example, my wife has a cousin who habitually comments “I would’ve done this…” not as a learning tool for the next time around, but to make herself feel better about the current situation. Recognize it and if at all possible, redirect the conversation.

If I’m slipping, call me out. I’ll reciprocate the favor – and thank you later. No one likes being called a hypocrite, so be 100 percent certain your ducks are in a row regarding why someone else’s actions upset. There is a possibility that the offender just doesn’t know how foolish it looks until a different set of eyes makes him or her aware of the deed.

Show compassion when someone is giving you the third degree. Remind them that labelling someone a hypocrite really does no favors. In addition, why relive the annoyance of other people’s actions?

Ice them out. It’s probably not the best solution, but we have to take care of our health. Some people intentionally get under our skin because they have discovered our triggers and have a sadistic sense of humor that thrives on our miseries, and for those instances, it is best to remove ourselves from that ilk. In other words, we need to stay in our lanes the best we can. To handle internet trolls, a simple “may God bless you” typically silences them.

Forgive them. Jesus forgave the Pharisees, Sadducees, the Sanhedrin, and a host of others. Why can we not do the same?

If people want to be hypocritical, that is their business. Leave them be.

#NP Korn - Hypocrites

— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) January 23, 2016

God is the final judge.  Not you, me, or NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell – the Creator of our world carries out an eternal verdict for the secret sins we have committed intentionally or accidentally as well as the ones we thought about but chose not to speak or act upon.