Making a Case for Hypocrisy

Last year, I was meeting with a young man – a brand new Christian. He and I had been studying the Bible for months and he’d begun attending church and experimenting with living out the Christian life. But everything was new to him. He’d begin most days conscientiously thinking about God and virtuous living. Then occasionally slip back into old habits and sin. At times he enthusiastically embraced this new life and other times he wasn’t all that excited. He felt like a phony and a failure. It also felt hypocritical trying to be obedient when his heart wasn’t always in it, or even scared to death about what his friends might think or say.

“I feel like a hypocrite, when I fail, or my heart isn’t really in it. That’s a sin isn’t it?”

“Not necessarily,” was my answer.