Authentic Faith/Hypocrisy (Christian)

According to www.adherents.com, three out of every four people in America claim to be a Christian. Three out of four! Take a walk down a busy street and look around at the people you see. Chances are a lot of those people say they are Christians. Now take a look at what these people are doing. They are cussing, they are misusing the Lord’s name, they are wearing insufficient clothing, drugs and alcohol control them, and he list goes on. This is the reason the world depicts Christians as hypocrites. Now I’m not judging those people and saying they don’t have faith in Christ. They may very well believe that Jesus died for them. But if they believe this then they will have a desire to obey Him. If we claim to be Christians it is crucial that all we do brings glory to God. In fact, the Holy Spirit will give us a longing for it. Three essential things for us as Christians is to read the Bible often, glorify God, and encourage other believers to do the same.

First, read the Bible often. How can we as Christians determine how we are to act unless we are constantly reading about it? If we don’t have Scripture reinforced in us, then it will be much easier to give into temptation. Our sinful nature will take over. We need constant reassurance that the struggles we are facing are for the greater glory of God. The Bible is a huge part of this reassurance. Without it our eagerness to exalt the Lord will pass. It is what continuously fans the flame.

Now it doesn’t stop at just reading the Word. It says in Matthew 7:26, “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.” After we read the Bible we need to put into practice what it says. We need to glorify God by doing what he asks. In I Corinthians 10:31, Paul says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

After we have read the word and lived it out, we need to encourage other Christians