Be a Hypocrite

The smile on my face was stiff. I hoped the new lady at my hometown church didn't notice as I listened to her incessant complaining. After all I had asked, "Do you like it since you moved here?"

There wasn't one thing that she liked about her life or the town. I continued to nod, smile and control my facial expressions. She was talking to me, but I was talking to God while she continued to brerate everything. "LORD, I know I"m supposed to love her, but I don't even like her. "

The question came inside me, "What would you do if you did love her?"

"I'd invite her to dinner and help her adjust because she doesn't know anyone."

"Then do that."

"But I would be a hypocrite if I did that," was my response.

Silence. I knew there was something wrong with my response. "Oh,  I get it. I'm strugging between what you want me to do, and what my flesh wants to do. If that is being a hypocrite then I choose to be a hypocrite. You want to love her through me."

She chose to come to my church. She still talked a lot, but she tried to control her tongue as she grew as a Christian. And when I wanted the truth I asked her.

Scripture:"...let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:18