HONESTY VERSUS HYPOCRISY

“…the Greek word we translate truth…is aletheia, and it literally means “nothing concealed.” It is appearance being reality. We could read this verse, “I have no greater joy than to hear that My children live with nothing concealed, walking in the reality of how they appear.”

This is greatly needed revelation in our world today, because most people live lies of deception and hypocrisy…today, it is considered normal and even assumed that we will be phony, say what others want to hear and do whatever it takes to get what we want. The truth is meaningless as we break our marriage vows, leave our children, lie to the IRS and steal from our employee. But the Christian is called to have a prosperous soul, one that is filled with truth and walks in truth. We are to live openly and honestly before all men.

The hypocrite is one who acknowledges the Lord and goes to church but couldn’t care less about godly living. The hypocrite is one who is in church and says amen to the preacher and acts like he loves the Lord – that is, until he gets to the car, where he cusses out his wife, puts the kids down and goes home to have a beer and watch the game He’s on the deacon board but seldom pays his whole tithes or follows through on his pledges. He acts nicely to the people he works with but gossips about them behind their backs.

The Greek word for hypocrite originally didn’t have a negative connotation. It described the actors in a stage play who used different masks to play various characters. New Testament writers began to use the word to describe the phony or the person who hides and conceals the truth. Jesus called the religious leaders of His day hypocrites because the faked their dedication to God’s Word and lived according to man-made traditions (much like many Christians toady) in their daily lives.

The prosperous soul is open and honest. Nothing is concealed, and the face value is the real value. If we have truth in us and are walking in truth, there is a commitment and a passion in our lifestyle. Many Christians have a halfhearted commitment to truth, so they have a halfhearted walk and relationship with the Lord. They believe the Bible, but there are parts they don’t want to deal with…Many hide things from their wives or husbands, keeping feelings and things they’ve done concealed. They say they believe the truth, but they don’t walk in it.”