THE REAL DEAL

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1 ESV)

And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16:15 ESV)

Augustine wrote, “It is not the being seen of men that is wrong, but doing these things for the purpose of being seen of men. The problem with the hypocrite is his motivation. He does not want to be holy; he only wants to seem to be holy. He is more concerned with his reputation for righteousness than about actually becoming righteous. The approbation of men matters more to him than the approval of God.” As a Christian, do you seek to avoid this obvious hypocrisy in your own life?

The Apostle John teaches us that if we believe and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, we know that we abide in Christ and Christ in us. (1 John 3:24 ESV) We can believe and obey because God has given us His Holy Spirit. We may cast off the chain of sins and lies which made us hypocrites and be renewed after the image of our creator. (Colossians 3:7-10 ESV) We now live by faith in the Son of God. (Galatians 2:20 ESV)

A Christian, who is “The Real Deal”, will never be perfect in this life. Nevertheless, the Bible plainly teaches that, “now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.” (Romans 6:22 ESV) Sanctification continues throughout life. Pursuing holiness is a daily work in which we are joined by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works in and with us to defeat sin and hypocrisy.

How often have you been embarrassed by some failure to live up to the high calling of Jesus Christ? Most of us have had this experience many times. When faced with this, we have the tendency to hide our sins and pretend to others that we have grown more in Christ than we actually have. We are tempted to put on the mask of the hypocrite because we are more worried about what people think than what God thinks. In doing so, we rob ourselves of one of the greatest gifts of our Christian faith – FORGIVENESS. John writes, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 ESV)

When you are tempted to practice hypocrisy to impress others, repent and ask forgiveness for your sin. What good is it to fake your righteousness before men? Can men arrange a place for you in heaven or hell? God sees everything. God knows the secret places of your heart. God has the authority and power to send you to heaven or hell! He knows if you are “the real deal” or just faking it.