Hypocrisy 101 is judging others. Let’s look at the story of Tabitha. Tabitha looked left then right, sure that no one could see her, she scooped two more pieces of meat into her bowl and covered them with some spoons of rice. She smiled to herself, congratulating herself for being so smart.
Later in the day, she found her sister eating more than the usual share of chocolate. She knew her sister had taken them without their parents’ permission.
“I will report you” she told her sister.
That’s hypocrisy 101!
A hypocrite is someone who condemns someone for doing or saying something that they also are doing or have done.
Just like Tabitha who stole meat from the pot and accused her sister for stealing chocolate and even threatened to report her to their parents.
Doesn’t it make you angry at Tabitha? How dare she do that? You would like to call her out this instance and call her a hypocrite!
See what Jesus says about hypocrites
“Why do you notice the little piece of dust that is in your brother’s eye, but you don’t see the big piece of wood that is in your own eye? You say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take that little piece of dust out of your eye.’ Why do you say this? You cannot see that big piece of wood in your own eye! You are a hypocrite! First, take the piece of wood out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly to take the dust out of your brother’s eye. Luke 6:41-42 ICB
When you judge others, you are saying that you are perfect and without any sin.
The bible makes us to understand that no one is without sin. Only God is without sin and that’s bwhy He doesn’t want us to live in sin.
A wide and pleasant smile plastered over Tade’s face as he collected the bowl of food from the food seller at the school’s canteen. He couldn’t hold back the urge to pick a piece of meat and slide it into his mouth. But anger was lurking somewhere in the corner!
He had hardly taken two bites when someone crashed into him, sending both him and the plate of food to the ground. To make matters worse, his uniform was soiled with oil.
His eyes went from the food on the floor to the culprit standing over him. He heard the whole canteen go up in laughter as he focused on Yinka, his anger rising.
‘Why did you push me?’ he asked Yinka. Yinka chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. Tade saw this and just like all the other times like this, he knew Yinka would never apologize. This fueled his anger the more. ‘That was my lunch.’ ‘So?’ Yinka said, daring Tade to do his worst.
Tade bolted up in a flash and smacked Yinka straight in the face, followed by punches in the stomach and a powerful one to the jaw. Yinka staggered back, tasted the blood in his mouth, and spat out a tooth. Anger now ruled in the boys. Instantly Yinka responded with his own punches and the fight began.
At the end of the day, both boys were sitting in the Principal’s office with oil-stained uniforms, swollen faces, missing teeth, painful torsos, and no lunch.
Getting angry and acting out the anger, just like what happened in the story above, is why you shouldn’t let your anger control you. Tade got angry at what Yinka had done and attacked him, leading Yinka to act out his anger also. In the end, both boys had lost a lot.
When you hit back at someone, you likely will do so more than they hit back at you. And the person will also hit back at you more than you did. The cycle continues like that till it escalates to a point when both of you would have lost so much at the end. That is how anger cycles.
May God grant you the grace to hold back your anger. Amen.
Prayer: Lord, give me the grace to not be angry and act out my anger. Help me to keep my cool. Amen.
Action point: Pray that God will help you handle your anger well.
