Of all the issues that many have with churchgoers, the one that is most often quoted is that they’re “all hypocrites”. The fact is that we have all fallen short in our behaviour and our thinking. Yet the fact that we must in some way be away of this is what may well have brought us to church in the first place. As someone one said to me – just think how much more awful I’d be if I didn’t all too frequently recognise my shortcomings.
We all have our areas where we try and create an image. Sometimes, indeed often, we don’t know we’re doing it until perhaps some kindly soul points it out to us. Hypocrisy can be concealed, deep within our psyche – we wear the mask but are not aware. Others, however, are all too aware but they fool themselves into thinking it doesn’t matter, it’s not important, or worse, for a tiny minority, they are happy to live a lie and to be seen as respectable citizens, stalwarts of the church community.
We owe it to ourselves and to the Gospel we proclaim to delve deeply into our hearts, to recognise those area we try to conceal, and strive to be more the people that God created us to be. In our society which seems to require us to have the right image, as the French say “le look”, this can be hard, but this is what is required of us as we seek to follow Christ.