The thing that I’d most hate to be seen as is a hypocrite – not because I’m overly sensitive or precious about my reputation, but because as a hypocrite, I’d be bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ into disrepute.

Now sometimes, because the Gospel is divisive, what the Bible teaches about sin and repentance is offensive to many a sinner, and they’re going to call you names. There’s no avoiding that.

But when you see a guy whose Facebook profile photo is a picture of his red car, with things like “repent”, “true love”, “Jesus is coming back soon”, “turn back to God” plastered all over it … then post a meme with a picture of his president, telling him to go “eff” himself … well, that’s what you call a hypocrite – plain and simple.

And that sort of thing not only brings the Gospel into disrepute, but I can’t imagine that God particularly enjoys it either.

1 John 4:19-21 We love because God first loved us. If we say we love God but hate any of our brothers or sisters in his family, we are liars. If we don’t love someone we have seen, how can we love God? We have never even seen him. God gave us this command: If we love God, we must also love each other as brothers and sisters.

If you grew up with brothers and sisters, you’ll know that there are many times along the way when you disagreed, when you had fights and arguments.

Yeah, God knew that too when He had John write those words not merely as friendly advice, but as a command.

If we love God, we must also love each other as brothers and sisters.

Don’t be a hypocrite!

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.