"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."The “greatest commandment” means, quite simply, we must put the love of God first; not in word only, but, as James says, as “an effectual doer”!Deuteronomy 6:4-9
A few years ago, in a study of apostasy among adult children of the faithful, the primary cause given for leaving the faith of their parents was hypocrisy among family and church members. [“Parents teach by example in matters of faith,” New York (AP); reported in Lake County Record-Bee, Friday, May 14, 1993, p. A8, in “Religious News.”]
The predominant perception of these adult children was that the lives of those who should have most reflected the teachings of Jesus, did not!
If our lives reflect a biblical faith and a child-like trust in God, our children will want what we have; they learn from us that life is only meaningful and only complete if Christ is the head of our homes.
Showing posts with label Hypocrisy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hypocrisy. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
HYPOCRISY: Parenting, the greatest example!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
HYPOCRISY: Not a Fatal Disease But It Ought to Be!
LEANING ON A BROKEN CRUTCH: [James 3:13-17]
A few years ago a sixteen year-old told me he didn’t need God because he was “not that insecure.” What did he mean by that statement? He was implying, “You Christians only go to church and believe in a thing called God because you're insecure and need a crutch to get through life." Where do young people get ideas like this?
First, they see the way some of us live and see that the walk doesn’t agree with the talk, so we’re hypocrites in their mind. As a result, they want nothing to do with what we’re selling.
Second, they lack simple life-experience [aka: common-sense], which breeds selfishness and self-centeredness. As I age, and gain in experience, I’m amazed I survived my own youth.
Much of what we say as young people becomes a hardened belief as an adult. We hear things from others, whom we respect, and accept them as gospel without question. What we don’t know, at that age, is that much of what we hear is what others also heard and accepted without question. The young man I shared my faith with was himself guilty of hypocrisy; however, he lacked sufficient life-experience to discern it.
In repeating, as truth, something acquired from another, without personal knowledge of its truthfulness, we are guilty of using that person as a crutch in the same way Christians are accused of using God ... only we have personal knowledge of the Gospel’s truthfulness.
A few years ago a sixteen year-old told me he didn’t need God because he was “not that insecure.” What did he mean by that statement? He was implying, “You Christians only go to church and believe in a thing called God because you're insecure and need a crutch to get through life." Where do young people get ideas like this?
First, they see the way some of us live and see that the walk doesn’t agree with the talk, so we’re hypocrites in their mind. As a result, they want nothing to do with what we’re selling.
Second, they lack simple life-experience [aka: common-sense], which breeds selfishness and self-centeredness. As I age, and gain in experience, I’m amazed I survived my own youth.
Much of what we say as young people becomes a hardened belief as an adult. We hear things from others, whom we respect, and accept them as gospel without question. What we don’t know, at that age, is that much of what we hear is what others also heard and accepted without question. The young man I shared my faith with was himself guilty of hypocrisy; however, he lacked sufficient life-experience to discern it.
In repeating, as truth, something acquired from another, without personal knowledge of its truthfulness, we are guilty of using that person as a crutch in the same way Christians are accused of using God ... only we have personal knowledge of the Gospel’s truthfulness.
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