You see, yesterday my two oldest sons, a couple of staff members and myself went to pick up some free used office furniture that was donated to the church and Christian School.  This included a desk, cradenza, and large filing cabinet.  The desk was huge and HEAVY, as was the credenza.   Thankfully, we got it transported back here to church without a problem.

Once we got back to the church, we had to do some shifting around.  A smaller desk that was in my office was to go to one of the teachers, whose desk was to come downstairs and into the Christian Education resource room.  Filing cabinets also had to be taken out of my office and put upstairs, which meant they had first to be emptied of their contents.

Long story short, my office was a MESS by the time all this switching around took place.  I worked as hard and as fast as I could to get things situated well enough that I could devote this day to studying.  

This morning, one of our staff members walked into my office and said, “Oh, this looks nice!” ¬†To which I responded, “Yeah, well, all the junk is hidden.” ¬†That was an understatement, to say the least. ¬†Virtually all my desk, credenza, and filing cabinet drawers are jammed full of miscellaneous notebooks, papers, computer accessories, binders, and other paraphernalia. ¬†So, everything looks good, but everything is not what it seems.

That’s how it is in the life of many Christians. ¬†For the sake of appearance, they hide their sins very adeptly so as to appear righteous before others. ¬†But just as I knew the true condition of my office, they know the true condition of their hearts. ¬†

Apart from the sin of hypocrisy and the consequences it brings (see Matthew 23), there is an additional danger. ¬†Hebrews 3:13 reminds us that we can “be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” ¬†I suppose that if I sat in my office long enough, looking at how “tidy” it is while refusing to open the drawers to deal with the junk, I could convince myself that it really is as neat and clean as it appears to be. ¬†But I would have only deceived myself. ¬†The junk is going to go away by my ignoring it. ¬†The same is true of the hidden sins of the heart.

So don’t be deceived. ¬†Don’t be a hypocrite. ¬†Instead, attack each sin with a holy determination to root every evil out of your life. ¬†This may seem like a job that’s too big for you. ¬†You’re right, it is. ¬†But it’s not too big for God. ¬†”I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). ¬†So don’t make excuses. ¬†Make progress. ¬†You’ll be glad you did.¬†