Church is Full of Hypocrites

 The church is full of hypocrites. 

There, I said it, or rather, my Dad said it. It was one of his "Dadisms" whenever I asked him to attend church with our family. Exasperated one day, I asked him what he meant. Dad was a kind man. To many, who liked to judge, he hadn't lived a "Christian" life.

All of his missteps had been on the outside. You see, Dad was an alcoholic. Having alcoholism makes you act out in a certain way at times. For some people, if you are normally hard-working, can make your work history sporadic. It can make you do things out of character to get money for alcohol because that is all-consuming, your guiding star. Unless Jesus is put in that driver's seat, Alcohol sits there and commands your mind. That isn't what this article is about though. Not really. 

It is about judgment. The judgment Dad made about Church folks. I've got a whole different lecture about the judgment church folk made on my father, believe me!

Anyway, Once I understood that Dad thought everyone going to church thought themselves blameless and without sin. I understood some things. He thought that also. He thought SOME of the people sitting in those pews were sinless. Any student of the word, KNOWS  that to be false. I told him, we sit in those pews because we all sin. 

 I KING 8:46 "WHEN THEY SIN AGAINST YOU -FOR THERE IS NO ONE WHO DOES NOT SIN..."

The other enlightenment I had was that because he believed that you had to be pure before you entered a church, he didn't feel he was worthy to do so. Even though, he knew from personal experience there were people sitting in those pews not living the life Christ prescribed because they were persecuting him and making him not feel worthy.

Let me caution you that some of us wear our sins on the outside and some on the inside. If you are living your life for Christ, the gift he gives you is for discernment, not for judgment. There is a difference that I caution you about, dear brothers and sisters.

If you are sitting there today at home not feeling worthy of joining in worship because someone has shamed you for your lifestyle or for a disease, or for any other sin against man or God, I say come. Shame on that Christian. It is not your cross to bear. We all stand before God only to answer for our own individual sins. You should be welcome in the house of God.