"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 23:27-28
Any Stumbler like myself is all too aware of the fact that sometimes Christians' inner lives are incongruent with their outer lives and vice versa. If we are truly filled with the Holy Spirit, our lives should and will exude His Fruits.
If we are trying pass off our own "counterfeit fruit", it will be quite obvious to those around us that what we're peddling isn't the "real deal". We should have motivations to match our actions, and actions to match our place in Christ. We should live Godly lives from the inside out. There should be no room for hypocrisy and no room for apathy.
This Stumbler has a difficult time letting the Holy Spirit fill her up to the brim and overflow in her actions. It is so tempting to just take control of my own life and attempt to "fake" a Spirit-led life. The sad fact of the matter is, we all fail miserably when we try to counterfeit holiness and righteousness. We look and sound like frauds. We stink of deceit. Anyone---especially atheists---can sniff out a hypocritical Christian from a mile away.
My prayer is that God would fill me with His Spirit so that my motivations would be His and that my actions would reflect a heart that is drenched in His Love. "Fake it 'til you make it" just doesn't cut it with God.
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