Flee Hypocrisy – Be People of our Word

“You know, we live in a day when we are more afraid of holiness than we are of sinfulness. We accommodate ourselves to iniquity not only in the world, but in the fellowships round about.” –Leonard Ravenhill

There is nothing so obvious to a child than their parent’s hypocrisy. They will remember their parent’s hypocrisy forever and never be able to wash their minds free of it. We must be people of our word!  We must be men and women of our word!  We must become people of Psalm 15:

Psalms 15:1-5 A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

Did you catch that – he that swears to his own hurt and changes not!  If we give our word, and then renege on it, what kind of person does that? A hypocrite. We need to be people who when we say we’ll do such and such actually do it, or if we say we will stand by someone – we do exactly that. Our word must be our bond. It was this way when I was young. If my grandfather told someone something, they could take that to the bank, was the saying. It meant his word was as good as gold. So much so, the bank would loan money on the word of such a person.

Do you know anyone like that? If you do, I’ll bet you treasure that relationship as people like that are very few and far between these days. There are no excuses adequate enough for breaking our word. I know, I’ve done that a few times and it always, always stung sharply when I broke my word to anyone, for any reason. It was a feeling I don’t ever want to repeat. I felt like trash and there’s nothing noble about trash.

This comes into play with the way we spend our money and how we vote too. If I spend money with a company buying their product just because it’s cheaper, even though the company does or supports things I don’t believe in, I believe I’ve sold my soul for a dollar. If I tell everyone I’m for life and then turn around and support or vote for a candidate that does not support life – I am a hypocrite.

We cannot play both sides of an issue or a challenge. We must choose whom we will support and whom we will NOT support. And, I do mean that emphatically. There are mitigating circumstances and some people will assert that we can choose to support the lessor of two evils. I’ve tried that and it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. If choice A is evil and choice B is also evil, only a little less so – then I choose neither!

“When the Lord’s sheep are a dirty grey, all black sheep are more comfortable.” – Vance Havner

I used to tell my children and grandchildren this story. I’m baking a fine batch of double fudge brownies and I’ve added only the finest ingredients I could find – walnuts, fudge chips, etc. Then, as I’m working on the batch, a very small piece of dog poop falls into the batch. Now, should I toss it even though I don’t have enough ingredients to make another batch, or just mix it in real well and go on? So, I stirred it in really well and I’m sure you won’t be able to find it. Therefore, there should be no problem as it really was just a tiny piece. Now, how many of those brownies do you want?

If I’m pro-life and vote for a pro-choice candidate, I’ve taken a brownie. We must be people of our word!  If I say I’m against a certain lifestyle and my favorite building supplier is blatantly supportive of that lifestyle – I have a choice to make; my favorite store or my honor. I choose honor!

If my insurance company is owned by a man who really, really hates America and is doing everything in his power to destroy us and our way of life, and he is raking in the money due to his advertising prowess and low prices while laughing at us all the way to the bank – should I change insurance companies? In a heartbeat!

I’ll spend more to buy American. I’ll spend more to put my money in the hands of people who think like I do and who love America. We need to be careful of who we support through our spending and our consumption as consumers. Every dollar counts and is the best voting weapon you have at your disposal. Use it wisely!