Five Spiritual Pit Falls To Avoid
Today, I’m starting a series on five common pitfalls that can derail our spiritual lives. This series is intended for Christian women who want to live faithfully in fellowship with Christ and His Word.
Why this series?
Because we live in the world and are probably more like the world than we realize. The fundamental philosophies of the world have infiltrated the church so deeply that we often see actions and attitudes celebrated instead of mourned over and repented of, even within our own congregations. When we stray from God’s ways, God’s glory is maligned. But on a personal level, we are actually practicing self hurt and making life harder than we need to. Why destroy our own happiness and cling to idols when we can walk in the light of God’s love and mercy?
Not much shocks us anymore, does it? Not church scandals nor splits. Not falling away or coldness. We are no longer shocked when headlines reveal yet another pastor had an affair while simultaneously preaching and fulfilling his public duties—committing adultery on Monday and preaching on Sunday without batting an eyelash until caught. The easy way out is to point fingers at the culture, or the schools, or the politicians, but when it comes down to it, we stand before God and answer to Him and so we must begin with ourselves.
Am I headed in the wrong way? Have I been overtaken by the deceitfulness of sin? Can I practice THIS (adultery, anger, deceit, envy, hatred, unforgiveness) and TRULY be faithful to the word of God?
Here’s the truth: a “shipwrecked” faith doesn’t just happen overnight.
The pastor in the news didn’t wake up one day as a liar, adulterer, and hypocrite. It happened choice by choice. Silencing your conscience’s objections, ignoring the Holy Spirit’s promptings, knocking over every moral objection with a reason or excuse to leave the path of right works and stray onto an evil path. Deviant choices, one step at a time. Every temptation begins with forbidden fruit. Our mind begins to reason that we could and should have it or do it. We desire it. It captivates us. We are enshrining it in our hearts like a treasure, protecting it and hardening our hearts towards anything that would threaten it. Like Eve, we hide our sin from God and others. When confronted, we make excuses, we show off our “fig leaves”, our flimsy homemade fix, which leaves us unchanged and hidden in persistent sin. Though we claim the gospel, in practice, we deny it. We become anti-gospel. What we need is a remedy. We must be “found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith” (Philippians 3:9).
Avoiding the Ruts and Pulls of Pitfalls
I grew up on an Ocean Spray cranberry farm, where each cranberry bog has dirt roads surrounding it, with deep ruts formed by years of heavy machinery traveling the same path. These ruts are so deep that if you’re driving a small car too fast, you can bottom out on the grass in the middle and damage your vehicle. Similarly, if you’re driving a snowmobile and veer too far left or right, you can be pulled suddenly by the slope of the rut directly into a ditch. However, if you stay centered on the right path, everything will be fine. Many of us as kids ended up landing the snowmobile in the ditch because we weren’t paying attention or were going too fast.
Scripture is the well-worn path God intended for us to follow, as it points us to Christ. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path to show us how to know God and to live on earth as creatures created with a purpose.
When we treat the Bible’s commands as optional, we find ourselves veering off the path without even realizing it.
So let’s consider ourselves and these pitfalls and by God’s grace, avoid them!
“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” — 1 Corinthians 10:12
“One who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless.” — Proverbs 14:16
“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” — Psalm 119:11
The cure for these pitfalls is the same: come to Christ and receive mercy and grace in your time of trouble. Trust what He says, do what He tells you, believe Him, and obey His Word. That is the life of faith. Full reliance on Christ. Full stop.
In this series, I want to address five pitfalls I’ve noticed over the years: hypocrisy, Phariseeism, sin-obscured sight, stiff necks, and cold hearts. My hope is that if you recognize any of these tendencies in your life, God will use these words to grab your attention and, by His grace and Spirit, lead you to repentance. Though these temptations abound for all of us, God’s grace super-abounds (Romans 5:20-21).
Pitfall 1: Hypocrisy.
Jesus warns his disciples,
“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.””
To be clear,
A Hypocrite is NOT
- Someone who does something they don’t feel like doing. Culture tells you it’s inauthentic to do something you don’t want to do. No, that’s just maturity and faithfulness. A mother feeds her baby in the middle of the night whether she feels like getting up for the third time or not. You get up and go to work whether you are feeling it or not.
- Someone who is tempted to skip church because they are exhausted or discouraged but shows up anyway. That is someone who is fighting against natural temptations and decided to do what is right.
- Someone who wants to tell someone off but holds their tongue with self-control and deference. See above. That’s just plain, common fighting the fallen nature and prevailing.
Hypocrisy is presenting yourself one way in public, but having a very different character in private.
The Oxford dictionary defines hypocrisy as “the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform; pretense.”
It comes from a greek word that means to “act on a stage.” You put on a show, wear a mask, hide the real you from some people.
What you say and what you do are two entirely different things.
It’s publicly praising virtue and morality to others, while planning and practicing vice in secret.
Think Eddie Haskel on Leave it To Beaver.
Uriah Heap in David Copperfield.
Reverend Dimmesdale in the Scarlet Letter.
Spurgeon says of hypocrisy:
“The hypocrite can speak like an angel, he can quote texts with the greatest rapidity; he can talk concerning all matters of religion, whether they be theological doctrines. metaphysical questions, or experimental difficulties. In his own esteem he knoweth much and when he rises to speak, you will often feel abashed at your own ignorance in the presence of his superior knowledge. But see him when he comes to actions. What behold you there? The fullest contradiction of everything that he has uttered. He tells to others that they must obey the law: doth he obey it? Ah! no….Follow him to his house; trace him to the market, see him in the shop, and if you want to refute his preaching you may easily do it from his own life. My hearer! is this thy case? Thou art a member of a church, a deacon, a minister. Is this thy case? Is thy life a contradiction to thy words? Do thy hands witness against thy lips? “
Matthew 6: 1-4 shows a portrait of the hypocrites of Jesus day:
- Hypocrites give alms to be seen by others, rather than to please God
- Hypocrites pray in public places to be seen by others
- Hypocrites make their garments larger than necessary to be noticed
- Hypocrites love titles and having the preeminence and pride themselves on being superior to others
- Hypocrites are more concerned with worldly things than with eternal things
The hypocrisy of the Pharisees was that they were pushing a narrative of holiness, an outward show of goodness, but Jesus knew their hearts and proclaimed:
“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.” (See Matthew 23:27)
Social media has spoon fed us a diet of false, curated, staged lifestyle narratives for so long that we’ve come to expect them and take them with a grain of salt. We don’t consider that it’s often just a stage where people perform and sell and influence to their own benefit and pocketbooks with little regard for integrity and truth. And we show up to watch their performances every day.
Questions for reflection:
How about you? Do you have a form of godliness–all show but no substance? Do you look good on the outside but inside you are full of rotten bones like anger, envy, and unforgiveness? Ask God to search you and reveal and forgive any hypocrisy in your life.
Do you look into the mirror of God’s word to see the truth about yourself, or would you rather sugar coat it or overlook it?
Are you the same at church as you are at home?
Do you say one thing to your “friends” face, and another thing behind her back?
Do you correct your children’s bad attitude but give your own moody attitude an eternal pass?
Do you do “good works” for the wrong reason? Would you do those same works if you were not seen or applauded by men?
What specific steps can you take to put off hypocrisy?
When you are veering off the path, what Bible verses will you meditate upon to help you? Choose one or two today and write them out so you can see them frequently.
Hypocrisy is not only lying to your neighbor but also failing to love your neighbor. The cure for hypocrisy is to repent and receive the gospel. If you are a believer and have fallen into the snare of hypocrisy, repent of your selfishness or people pleasing. You must decide you you want to please. People pleasing is an addiction that will keep you locked in the chains of hypocrisy. Remember, that your aim on earth is to live for an audience of One. Determine to do right even if no one sees or even if it costs you personally.