true colors
Years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth and The Doctor was in
elementary
school, he attended an art class twice a week. In art class, The Doctor
learned that when you mixed the colors blue
and
yellow together, you
created the color green.
Then he learned that mixing the colors
yellow and red together created orange and so on. Of course,
The Doctor could never seem to create anything other than a ridiculous
shade of
mauve no matter what
colors he mixed together but that's besides the point.
Anyway, The Doctor was reminded of his art class disasters recently when he read the Scripture quoted above. You see, the Bible tells us that love should never be mixed with hypocrisy. There's a very good reason for this because love mixed with hypocrisy creates flattery.
"Flattery" means to "compliment excessively and often insincerely, especially in order to win favor". (1) This means that whenever one person flatters another person, they are treating them in a way that's false or insincere. Perhaps the number one reason that people flatter others is to gain something that they want from someone else. That "something" could include things like money, attention, a date, or simply to be seen with the "right" people among other things.
Romans 10:9 tells us that real love doesn't display this kind of hypocrisy. In other words, we shouldn't flatter people or pretend to love them when we really don't. When we flatter others, we are really just trying to use them in some way for our own personal advantage. Now it's true that some people may be more lovable than others but instead of treating people to a hypocritical love, we should ask God to instill a genuine love for others within us. In any event, it's better to be honest with someone about how you feel than to be hypocritical in your love.
Did you know that the Bible -and the book of Proverbs in particular- has much to say on this subject? Check it out...
"Whoever flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his feet" (Proverbs 29:5 NIV).
"A man with hate in his heart may sound pleasant enough, but don't believe him; for he is cursing you in his heart. Though he pretends to be so kind, his hatred will finally come to light for all to see" (Proverbs 26:24).
The Biblical book of Romans (part of which is quoted at the
top of this page)
encourages people not to get involved in
this kind of behavior. Instead, as we're told in Romans 12:10, we
should
be devoted to one another in brotherly love and give preference to one
another in honor.
The advice that we find here in Romans is similar to the advice that the apostle Paul once gave in a letter that he sent to the church in the town of Philippi...
Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ, who, though he was God, did not demand and cling to his rights as God, but laid aside his mighty power and glory, taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men. And he humbled himself even further, going so far as actually to die a criminal's death on a cross" (Philippians 2:3-8).
So the next time you are tempted to mix love with hypocrisy just
remember- the
resulting color won't be very attractive.
(1) The American Heritage Dictionary third edition
The Doctor is not a real
doctor but he plays one on the Internet. E-Mail prescriptions are also
available on an individual basis.
Except as indicated, all Scriptural references taken from The
Living Bible, © 1971, Tyndale House Publishers Back
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