Articles
For Pretense
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation." (Matt. 23:14)
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The evangelical Christian community was stunned this week to see the final report on the charges of sexual misconduct by the late Ravi Zacharias, who was a popular and very effective apologist for Christianity. The evidence indicates that he led a private life that was a contradiction of his public persona. A number of people, especially women, were victims of his wrongdoing. The damage is incalculable.
The Greek word for actor is hupokritēs, usually translated as hypocrite. Actors are people who make a living pretending to be someone they are not. As a profession, acting is perfectly legitimate. Everyone knows the performance is just a put-on, and the actor is probably quite different in real life. It's innocent fun, and nobody gets hurt.
But there is another form of acting that is more sinister, and does hurt others. Hypocrisy is the hiding of our real motives with the intent to deceive others. The hypocrite "puts on an act" to fool others into forming an opinion of him that is not accurate. Like the scribes and Pharisees, he will "make long prayers" and perform other acts of piety to show how righteous he is; while at the same time "devour widows' houses" to enrich himself. He puts on one face for public view, but privately he is another person entirely. Apparently, Zacharias was such a man.
Hypocrisy is so common because it is so successful. A well-polished hypocrite can fool everybody into thinking he is the epitome of holiness, and keep up the charade throughout his entire lifetime. In some cases, his hypocrisy will not be revealed until after he is gone, if ever.
What is the cure for hypocrisy? It's honesty. Brutal, painful, public honesty.
First, we must first be honest with ourselves and with God--two sides of the same coin. In the deepest recesses of our heart we must face up to our own imperfections and bad attitudes, not whitewash them with excuses. We must openly confess our weaknesses to God, acknowledging our struggles with temptation and ignorance. Unless our conscience is conditioned to feel the pain of sin, there is nothing to keep us from inflicting pain on others.
Then we must be honest with others. We should seek out close friends in whom we can confide, and enlist their help in fighting the battle. When we stumble, we should own our mistake, and seek to correct it with others as publicly as the sin is known. The purpose is not to seek sympathy, but to repair what is broken. This can be hard, even humiliating; but it is essential to maintaining a clean heart.
In the meantime, how can we deal with the impact of yet another revelation of hypocrisy by a prominent faith leader? As one sage put it, we must remember that "I am not offering you Christians. I am offering you Christ."
We must keep our faith in Christ, not men--but keep it an honest faith.
--David
