"But if I do what I don't feel like doing, doesn't that make me a hypocrite?"
I've heard that question many times and didn't always know how to answer. Isn't a hypocrite someone who says one thing and does another, or tells me to do one thing when they do something else? Yes.
So if I do something and don't feel like it, how does that count? If I go to church and don't feel like it am I a hypocrite? What about going to work? Working out at the gym? Doing laundry? Feeding my family?
Interestingly the question only seems to apply to spiritual issues. We brush our teeth, clean the car, mow the yard, and prepare meals when we don't feel like it. Does that make us hypocrites? Dr. Bob Smith (M.D, Faith Church, Lafayette, IN) says the "natural" man (unbeliever) lives by nature; the supernatural man (believer) lives by faith. That helped me tremendously.
Before Christ was part of our lives, we made decisions and lived based on sensuous criteria. We did what we wanted--within reason--based on what we could see, feel, hear, smell, taste or based on our emotions and desires. You're familiar with the underlying message: "Follow your heart," "You deserve a break today," "Just do it," "I'm lovin' it," "Betcha can't eat just one...." The world appeals to our sensual nature. We are driven and pulled by what we want and think will make us fulfilled.
But once we are bought by Jesus we have new, spiritual life. We are new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17) with a different nature, created in holiness and righteousness for good works (Ephesians 4:24; 2:10). To live and walk is this new nature is to live by faith instead of sight (senses). Think of faith as "believing God will do what He says He will do." (Hebrews 11:6)
Because I have been born again by faith, I live and make decisions based what God says in His Word. After all, I believe He will do what He says He will do, regardless of how I feel or what my senses tell me. As I pray and ask for God's help, reading the Bible becomes more clear. I see how He's working to make me more like Jesus and I trust Him to help me be kind, forgive others, speak the truth, treat everyone the same, be respectful of authorities, etc. I may not "feel" like doing any of those things at a given time, but I choose to, with the help of the Holy Spirit. I obey because I'm a new person. I no longer have to give in to what I want or what I'll get out of it or what makes sense based on what I see, hear, touch, smell, taste. That means I'm not a hypocrite. I'm living by faith just the way God intended in His original design.
Does that send emotions out the window? A life of gritting my teeth sounds miserable. You and I tend to think it's all one or the other, but God's plan is all-inclusive. He redeems not only our behavior, but our emotions and attitudes as well. He wants me to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. The difference is that when I live by faith, my emotions are under my control--under the Holy Spirit's control--instead of controlling me. Sinful emotions can be confessed, forgiven and forsaken. I don't have to be ruled by them, leading to a life of regret or remorse. Instead, I have access to hope, peace, joy, contentment, freedom from guilt and shame, and a renewed sense of purpose.
Living by faith doesn't mean a life of always eating vegetables and never getting dessert. Living by faith is more like eating such a balanced diet that I'm rarely hungry, my taste buds are satisfied, my body is healthy, and I have adequate energy to complete the day's tasks. It's a fulfilled, rare, rich life of purpose and identity. Am I sad sometimes? Yes. Do I fail? Yes. Do I give in to overeating, oversleeping, being critical, or snapping at others? Frequently. But Jesus doesn't love me more. He doesn't love me less. He picks me up, dusts off my bottom, and sets me on my feet... so "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus..." by faith!
[Jesus said,] “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” John 14:18-21
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:7-14
I've heard that question many times and didn't always know how to answer. Isn't a hypocrite someone who says one thing and does another, or tells me to do one thing when they do something else? Yes.
So if I do something and don't feel like it, how does that count? If I go to church and don't feel like it am I a hypocrite? What about going to work? Working out at the gym? Doing laundry? Feeding my family?
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Interestingly the question only seems to apply to spiritual issues. We brush our teeth, clean the car, mow the yard, and prepare meals when we don't feel like it. Does that make us hypocrites? Dr. Bob Smith (M.D, Faith Church, Lafayette, IN) says the "natural" man (unbeliever) lives by nature; the supernatural man (believer) lives by faith. That helped me tremendously.
Before Christ was part of our lives, we made decisions and lived based on sensuous criteria. We did what we wanted--within reason--based on what we could see, feel, hear, smell, taste or based on our emotions and desires. You're familiar with the underlying message: "Follow your heart," "You deserve a break today," "Just do it," "I'm lovin' it," "Betcha can't eat just one...." The world appeals to our sensual nature. We are driven and pulled by what we want and think will make us fulfilled.
But once we are bought by Jesus we have new, spiritual life. We are new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17) with a different nature, created in holiness and righteousness for good works (Ephesians 4:24; 2:10). To live and walk is this new nature is to live by faith instead of sight (senses). Think of faith as "believing God will do what He says He will do." (Hebrews 11:6)
Because I have been born again by faith, I live and make decisions based what God says in His Word. After all, I believe He will do what He says He will do, regardless of how I feel or what my senses tell me. As I pray and ask for God's help, reading the Bible becomes more clear. I see how He's working to make me more like Jesus and I trust Him to help me be kind, forgive others, speak the truth, treat everyone the same, be respectful of authorities, etc. I may not "feel" like doing any of those things at a given time, but I choose to, with the help of the Holy Spirit. I obey because I'm a new person. I no longer have to give in to what I want or what I'll get out of it or what makes sense based on what I see, hear, touch, smell, taste. That means I'm not a hypocrite. I'm living by faith just the way God intended in His original design.
Does that send emotions out the window? A life of gritting my teeth sounds miserable. You and I tend to think it's all one or the other, but God's plan is all-inclusive. He redeems not only our behavior, but our emotions and attitudes as well. He wants me to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. The difference is that when I live by faith, my emotions are under my control--under the Holy Spirit's control--instead of controlling me. Sinful emotions can be confessed, forgiven and forsaken. I don't have to be ruled by them, leading to a life of regret or remorse. Instead, I have access to hope, peace, joy, contentment, freedom from guilt and shame, and a renewed sense of purpose.
Living by faith doesn't mean a life of always eating vegetables and never getting dessert. Living by faith is more like eating such a balanced diet that I'm rarely hungry, my taste buds are satisfied, my body is healthy, and I have adequate energy to complete the day's tasks. It's a fulfilled, rare, rich life of purpose and identity. Am I sad sometimes? Yes. Do I fail? Yes. Do I give in to overeating, oversleeping, being critical, or snapping at others? Frequently. But Jesus doesn't love me more. He doesn't love me less. He picks me up, dusts off my bottom, and sets me on my feet... so "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus..." by faith!
[Jesus said,] “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” John 14:18-21
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:7-14
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