April 25, 2016
Matthew 6:5
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
CONSIDER THIS
Hypocrites. Nobody likes hypocrites and yet no one considers that they might actually be one themselves.
I want to come at hypocrisy from a slightly different angle.
I want to classify hypocrisy as low grade narcissism. Another way of saying it: Garden Variety Image Management Syndrome. What are the symptoms? Constant attention to massaging one’s Facebook profile or endless tweaking of the Twitter bio or incessant attention to the latest friend who unfriended you, keeping a birdseye view on your twitter follower count or otherwise projecting your “perfect” life through your carefully curated and highly edited instagram photo stream. ;0)
Bringing it closer to home. I just love it when someone refers to me as a man of God, or a spiritual giant, or a true man of prayer, or an awesome golfer or an amazing preacher or an incredible writer, ok I’m getting carried away. If I am honest, I have to admit that I want to be seen by others in a certain way. Whether that be actually true about me or not is another question. And because I want others to see me in a certain way, the chances are, I am not really that way, because if I really were that way I wouldn’t be worried about it.
Low Grade Narcissism manifests itself through an insatiable appetite for the admiration of others. Narcissism counterfeits the love for self that Scripture calls for; as in “Love your neighbor as yourself.” God desires that we love ourselves at the deep core of who we are; who he made us to be. Narcissism, another symptom of pain at the core, trains us to love our self constructed image.
As in the Matryoshka (self righteousness) post a few days back, to the extent we are focused on managing our external appearance, we have a much deeper inside problem. The problem? Insecurity has breached the core identity. When we lack a deep inner confidence at the core of who we are, we naturally move to establish security around the perimeter. This is the essence of low grade narcissism and Image Management syndrome work. This, my friends, is where hypocrisy comes from. No-one tries or wants to be a hypocrite. It’s a deep and devastating form of brokenness that comes as a fruit of the fallenness of our humanity.
Again, let’s not vilify hypocrites. Rather, let’s become attuned to our pain. (I mean their pain.) ;0) Here’s the ironic kicker. (Don’t kick me for this though bc/ you may not like what I’m about to say.) The fact that we hate hypocrites is probably the telltale sign that we are one. Haven’t you discovered along the way that what you most despise in others, you fear is true about yourself?
Hypocrisy is another variety of soul cancer. The problem with hypocrisy is the hypocrite is the last one to know they have it. Wesley diagnosis some of the complexity of it with this word:
Purity of intention is equally destroyed by a view to any temporal reward whatever. If we repeat our prayers, if we attend the public worship of God, if we relieve the poor, with a view to gain or interest, it is not a whit more acceptable to God than if it were done with a view to praise. Any temporal view, any motive whatever on this side eternity, any design but that of promoting the glory of God, and the happiness of men for God’s sake, makes every action, however fair it may appear to men, an abomination unto the Lord. p.118
Tomorrow we will deal with the cure and it is really quite simple and comprehensively refreshing.
THE QUESTIONS
1. How do you relate to this understanding of hypocrisy–not something someone is trying to be but something they can’t help but be because of the unhealed broken places at the core of their being?
2. Ask yourself this question: Am I a hypocrite? Am I projecting an outward image that does not reflect the truth of my inner reality?
3. Pray this prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner. This is an antidote prayer—one that can begin to break the brokenness at the core by unveiling our blindness to ourselves. Pray it, pray it and keep praying it. Think of it like chemotherapy you may not think you need. Just take it. ;0)
4. An extra zinger kind of question for today. What might your hatred of hypocrites be quietly revealing about yourself? Sorry– I had to do it.
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J.D. Walt, is a Bond Slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. jd.walt@seedbed.com.