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Good For Me But Not
For Thee We
have all heard the statement, “Do as I say and not as I do.”
The Pharisees at the time of Jesus may very well have lived by this
motto. They were good at teaching
the law, but not so good at following it. Jesus
blasted them for their hypocrisy in Matthew 23.
Unfortunately
many that detest hypocrisy can be guilty of the same.
Recently, David Letterman, acknowledged a sex scandal that lasted a
number of years. He admitted to
having a number of affairs (i.e. being sexually immoral, committing adultery,
and/or fornication) with a number of female staff members over a number of
years. Such is bad and needs to be
repented of. What makes it doubly
bad is that this same man ridiculed others for doing pretty much the same
things. He mocked the Governor of
South Carolina for having a mistress, the Governor of Alaska for her oldest
daughter having a child out of wedlock, and so on.
However, this man at the same time was committing adultery.
So it seems to be a case of “it is ok for me, but not for you.” How
can a person reason in such a fashion? Don’t
they see the hypocrisy of their lives? Apparently
not and the primary reason is because of pride.
It is pride that says, I can do what I want.
Keep in mind that pride is arrogance, being puffed up, and is a condition
of the heart. It is the antithesis
of humility. “When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is
wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2) Notice
that pride leads to shame and humbleness is connected to wisdom.
It was pride that lead Nebuchadnezzar to boast of his great kingdom and
caused God to bring him down to his knees. It
was pride that caused Pharaoh to question who the Lord was that he should obey
His voice, Exodus 5.2. It is pride
that causes man to still rebel against God’s word.
Pride blinds the prideful and they feel justified in their sin. At
the same time it is also the philosophy of some that there is no such thing as
right and wrong. I heard one man on
the television make the point that when a pro-family politician is caught in
such a scandal that he deserves to be ridiculed.
However, when a politician that makes no such claims in caught in a sex
scandal it is no big deal. He never
claimed to hold any such values. This
may very well apply to David Letterman. He
lived in adultery many years before getting married.
During this time of living with the woman they had a child.
Obviously Letterman felt his behavior was acceptable.
So the other problem is simply self justification.
We are just in what we want to do, but if others do it they are wrong.
The
warning we should all take from this lesson is to beware of falling into the
same trap. Don’t think it is
different because of who you are. You
are not different and we are all subject to the law of Christ.
“10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in
heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.” (Phil 2:9-11). Also, we
should not seek to justify ourselves while condemning others.
We should apply the law to ourselves and then seek to apply it to others.
This is the point Jesus is making in Matthew 7.1-5, "Judge not, that you be
not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the
measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the
speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or
how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and
look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your
own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's
eye.” – Dennis Tucker |