Social Media! Love it or hate it, you can hardly get around these days without bumping into it, and I’m sure the list outlining all the reasons for and against would rival the best of them.

Ads aside, what is the main thing you see whenever you peruse a social media page? Yep, selfies! “This is me having dinner, this is me shopping, this is me with my bestie, this is me…”. Of course we all know the veneer is a mile long and an inch deep but we don’t care, we will spend countless hours posting our own selfies and looking at other people’s selfies, pretending we meet the standard that is being set.

Did you know one of the Greek words meaning “actor” is hupokrités? It’s where we get our word hypocrite, as it points to a “pretender”. They pretend they’re having fun when at the end of the day, they’re not. They pretend they are doing okay, nothing is wrong. They will use titles and degrees to pretend they are smarter than others, salary or income to pretend they are better than others, “likes” and “follows” to pretend they are more prestigious. But does this stop with social media? Of course not! Pretending to be something we’re not in order to gain favor, power, wealth, status and so on has been around since, well, Adam! It’s a false standard that dictates who you have to be in in order to look how you think others believe you should.

Outside of social media, the most well-known place for hypocrites to gather is church. Why church? The spirit of religion is also a mask one puts on their face that enables them to pretend they are something when they are not. Prior to social media it became the perfect breeding ground for hypocrisy. Why? Because we are drawn in by the authentic genuineness of people who have a personal relationship with the Creator of their souls. Lacking that experiential knowledge, it gives opportunity for the evil one to whisper to you that you can never attain to the standard, so in order to look like you have attained to it, you must pretend. Truth – no one attains to the true standard, not a single one of us! Like someone who sits in a glass house, our so-called standard prevents us from seeing the true standard, which is sinless perfection (ouch)!

Why do you think Jesus liked to hang out with sinners? Jesus hung out with sinners because so very often they were authentic and genuine. They did not pretend to be superior (or put on airs), they didn’t throw around their titles, they didn’t act entitled, try to wield authority that wasn’t theirs to wield, they didn’t pass judgement onto others around them… they were just themselves. They knew they were not perfect, and they knew Jesus was the answer. Jesus knew He could relax, be at ease. Why? Because in a religious environment He was constantly in “battle mode”, fighting against an imposed standard that was nothing but poison.

What a conundrum! The very place where authentic people who have had a genuine encounter with Jesus want to gather, to worship Him, is full of these pesky little hypocrite pretenders! But to forsake the gathering is to rob yourself of a loving, caring family that is there to worship with you, and to equip you with all you need to complete your destiny. It kinda stinks, because they are so concentrated there that it is not only super repulsive, it can also be really hard sometimes to distinguish someone genuine from someone who pretends.

Want to know a secret? Yes of course you are right – we all play the part of a hypocrite at one time or another throughout our lifetimes. Knowing this makes it easier to realize that hypocrites long for authenticity and that same genuine relationship, they just don’t always know how to go about getting it. They are convinced that to let go of their standard would rip the bandaid right off, and all the pus and ugliness underneath would reveal who they really are in all their nakedness. The shame, they imagine, is greater than the healing being offered. What a lie we have all bought into! Healing is real, and Jesus has met the standard for us so that we all can attain to it!

There will never be a church gathering without a hypocrite in attendance… BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE… (as all the gimmicky commercials say)… there is ONE place where there are “no selfies allowed”. No hypocrites will walk the streets. All social media pages will have the pictures plastered of one main “heartthrob”, Jesus Christ. That place is in His presence. Don’t let a hypocrite stop you from gathering to worship our great God, and don’t let your own hypocrisy keep you from admitting that you need that personal, genuine relationship with Him.

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut the kingdom of heaven in front of people; for you do not enter it yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Matthew 23:13;27-28

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28