A hypocrite is literally \u201cone who hides behind a mask.\u201d You\u2019ve got to love the story of the man who told the pastor he didn’t go to church because there were so many hypocrites there. The pastor responded by saying, \u201cOh, don\u2019t let that stop you. There\u2019s always room for one more.\u201d While there are certainly some in every church, genuine believers remember that they are first and foremost forgiven sinners. The old saying that going to church doesn\u2019t make one a believer any more than going into a garage makes one a car is an important truth. What some people perceive as hypocrisy in the church is in fact the result of a mistaken assumption. Some people assume others are believers just because they get up on Sundays and go to a place called church.<\/p>\n
There is a second mistaken assumption that a believer is someone who doesn\u2019t sin. Nothing could be further from the truth. As John wrote, \u201cIf we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us\u201d (1 John 1:8). A hypocrite claims to be without fault in one area or another. An authentic believer, on the other hand, freely admits to the fact that he or she is a sinner. John goes on to describe the difference between a hypocrite and an honest sinner: \u201cIf we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness\u201d (vs. 9). A forgiven sinner consistently seeks cleansing from sin. Are you wearing a mask, or do you freely admit that you have to stand before God regularly, confessing that you\u2019re a sinner and asking for His cleansing forgiveness?<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you, LORD, that You stand ready to forgive and cleanse us. We have sinned and need Your forgiveness this day, in Jesus name, amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A hypocrite is literally \u201cone who hides behind a mask.\u201d You\u2019ve got to love the story of the man who told the pastor he didn’t go to church because there were so many hypocrites there. The pastor responded by saying, \u201cOh, don\u2019t let that stop you. There\u2019s always room for one more.\u201d While there are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10639"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10639"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15031,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10639\/revisions\/15031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}