Would the Hypocrite please Rise?! :D

HYPOCRITE

Give to the needy,

Show love to the bad.

Pay your debts promptly,

In love and kindness, be clad.

Tell lies to none,

Neither God nor man.

Plant what is good,

Then reap joy from the land.

Forgiveness is a must,

Something you should gladly do.

Slander, malice and hate,

These MUST be far from you.

These are God’s instructions,

You’ll do well to live by the book.

When I am done doing the very opposite,

Perhaps I’ll turn and have a look.

Okwukwe Ifediora

3^rd March

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Hi people. :) I'm sorry i've been away so long...I have no excuses.

Up there is a piece i wrote in 2012. But i was just going through some of my old write-ups and it just occurred to me anew, how easy it is for us to get into hypocrisy - sometimes without even realizing it.

Here's a simple definition of the word from Wikipedia:

Hypocrisy is the claim or pretense of holding beliefs, feelings, standards, qualities, opinions, behaviors, virtues, motivations, or other characteristics that one does not actually hold. It is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another.^[1][2] In moral psychology, it is the failure to follow one’s own expressed moral rules and principles.[3]

We just tend to feel very good about being that guy or that babe who tells folks the proper things to do and the right ways to behave and the best thoughts to think and all that.

It does feel really really good doesn't it?

Funny enough, half the time we're probably saying the right things. I mean, the message is sound, the motives - on the surface - look pretty alright, the tone and approach could be on-point as well. But then, when our oh-so-perfect messages or rebukes are effectively passed across...does it make it easier for us to neglect to effect the changes we so passionately recommend to others in our very own lives?

I'm not just yarning off the top of my head - this used to be me. Way too often. (It still could quite easily be but now i attack this deadly habit like there's no tomorrow). :D

I'd feel so good after admonishing someone for some wrong behavior or attitude that's in all honesty detrimental to them, thinking what a 'good' person I really (can you smell the pride in my attitude former attitude? Sickening innit?). And then i'd walk away feeling like the counselor of the universe; thoroughly satisfied and proud of myself for getting the usual grateful or awed response i usually received from my audience. (lol, it wasn't all the time though).

I'd feel so good i'd forget to put the check on my own lifestyle or behavior concerning the very issue i was instructing others to be on their guards against. Rather dumb innit?

I know.

But what's amazing is that for awhile (a couple of days to weeks even) i could be walking around oblivious to the way i was damaging myself. I mean, you're going around trying to make the world a better place but eagerly trying to make yourself the only 'bad' that will be left in that same environment. How does that work? Really?

The answer is it doesn't. So eventually i'd catch myself slipping into hypocrisy at one point or the other, and then i'd feel appropriately remorseful and very much ashamed of myself. Sometimes i'd get thought bombs from the enemy that would sound something like:

* Some ambassador for Christ you are. You can't even get it right yourself! Who's going to bother listening to a fake? HA!"

#Eyeroll. The devil is such a nuisance.

Anyway, sometimes i actually listened to all that junk (thank the Lord for growth through His word though) and then i'd feel really sorry for myself and pathetic; then i'd cry and write a really touching 'I'm so sorry' poem to God and then I'd feel better. But you see, remorse and repentance can NEVER be the same just because they both start with the letter 'R' guys! The remorse thing would keep me sensitive for a couple days at most, and then i'd be right back at it.

However, I'm thankful my Father keeps teaching me how to love Him better. So these days when i catch myself ministering to or counselling some person and the Holy Spirit just brings to mind that I haven't been the best banner for Christ in that aspect, i don't stop counselling and go somewhere to sit and look morose. I repent in my heart, ask Him to help me out to be more sensitive and obedient to Him when I'm about to slip, and then I make a concerted, mega-violent and ruthless effort to kill the dominance of this here flesh in that area of my life.

It's been working just fine I must say. :)

Enjoy the rest of your week dear people.

xxx, Kwiksie.~