When sharing the faith every so often as we are called to do it can't be uncommon to encounter the phrase "I'm not a Christian because all Christians are hypocrites" or something similar.
How do you refocus the conversation away from negativity and back on promoting the gospel in a positive way?
For myself, I have to nod and agree and respect that they feel this way before going on about my own experience with the gospel and how it's completely changed my life, hoping that they will respect in kind.
How do you demonstrate to acquaintances that Christians aren't all hypocrites?
But we are. In one way or another, despite our best efforts, I am sure we are all probably to be found hypocrites.
I mean...even Peter was a hypocrite...telling people God loved the Gentiles equally, but then going and eating with the Jews separately . Paul had to call him out on it.
So...I would say...Christians are just normal, sinful people. The only difference between us and any other hypocrite, is that we recognise our sins, and know that we need help with them.
I don't think this should be a us/them sort of a wall, topic. It should be, really, one that actually tears down that wall and provides amazing hope! There is this, apparent and erroneous, misconception that Christians think they're better than other people. That we don't think we're hypocrites or sinners. But...to become a Christian, we have to put our hands up and say, "God, we are so broken and sinful that we cannot do life without you". In fact, if we're not nominal Christians, we're doing this every day.
So, in point of fact, what we're trying to say to other people is this: It's ok to not be ok. It's okay to make mistakes, to struggle with brokenness, anger, bitterness and even being a hypocrite! It's okay, because there's a God who loves us so much, he's not demanding we be perfect before we come to him, he comes to us and loves us where we are. He accepts us in the mud...died for us in the mud, so we don't have to stay there. It can be a long process getting out of the mud, but we don't do it alone, because the God who loved us enough to come to us, will never leave us. It's pretty amazing news, especially when we know how often we mess up.