"What are you up to, quoting my laws, talking like we are good friends?
You never answer the door when I call;
you treat my words like garbage."
Psalm 50:15-17 (The Message)
Ever felt like a hypocrite before? I have. Many times, but the time I felt like the biggest hypocrite was when I was on a prayer team and praying my little heart out for people, but didn't believe for an instant that God was listening to my prayers. Oh, I could pray like there was no tomorrow - I knew all the right words to say, but I sure wasn't answering the door to God's call on my heart.
I was treating God's words like garbage. Spewing words of God's greatness out, but in my mind thinking what a crock it all was. If a friend online was going through a hard time, I'd dig out my "Find It Fast In the Bible" book and find some great verses to share, but did I do that for myself? No way!
"I [God] kept a quiet patience while you did these things;
you thought I went along with your game. I'm calling you on the carpet,
you thought I went along with your game. I'm calling you on the carpet,
now, laying your wickedness out in plain sight."
Psalm 50:21
Wow. Wickedness? Seems a bit harsh. But, is it? Nope. I was being wicked. I was basically cursing God, while at the same time pretending like I was this great Christian. Why? Because I didn't want people to know that my faith was weak. And a part of me thought if I continued to fake it, maybe it would start to work. Like that old saying, "fake it 'till you make it". And yes, a part of me just wanted people to think what a great Christian I was. Pride, pure and simple.
"It's the praising life that honors me.
As soon as you set your foot on the Way,
I'll show you my salvation."
Psalm 50:23
I'm so grateful that God, in his silence, showed patience with me. I'm so thankful that he gave me time to repent and and showed me his salvation. It began with me trying to find something to praise God for every day. I set a reminder on my phone and for the first 2 weeks, I set it for every hour. When the timer went off, I stopped what I was doing and found something to praise God for. After that became more of a habit for me, I set my timer for once a day. I truly believe that this simple act was what got me to start desiring more of God.
If you're struggling with hypocrisy, turn from your sin. Ask the Lord to show you what you can do to rid your life of that wickedness. Believe me, the true relationship I'm developing with the Lord is so much better than the hypocrisy I was living with. This is Truth. Hypocrisy is lies. I'd rather live my life in the Truth of who God is and what he feels about me. Wouldn't you?
It is all about habit, isn't it? We get in the habit of being grumpy or critical or pessimistic or you-name-it. What a wonderful idea to set a timer to form a new habit that becomes a blessing.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how easy it is to form a bad habit, but how difficult it is to form a good habit! I even have my bio son working on this now as he has gotten to have such a negative attitude about himself. Whenever I hear him being negative, I immediately stop him and we pull out his journal that we've been writing things we find in the Bible about how much God loves us, how we're made in his image, etc. and I have him read those, then come up with something positive to say about himself or his life. I'm hoping doing this will help break him of this habit of being so down on himself all the time.
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