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Jesus really, really does not like hypocrisy. His sharpest words in the New Testament were directed at hypocrites, calling them whitewashed tombs. Yikes!

Yet news headlines today are filled with Christ followers caught in the worst types of hypocritical behavior. How does this happen? How can this be possible?

We asked some people at Willow how they experienced hypocrisy from other Christians. Here are their responses:

“The church says we’re supposed to love everyone, but it actually excludes people who are different.”

“The church doesn’t feel safe when it’s supposed to be safe. I chose to be vulnerable by sharing some delicate parts of my story, but my personal information was shared around me—in gossip and judgment.”

“My family was in the depths of our despair, and we felt very alone. The church moved away from us in discomfort rather than leaning into our pain with empathy.”

Most of us can recall a time when we’ve been hurt by the hypocritical behavior of Christians or a local church that claims to follow Jesus. The pain is very real, and it requires real healing. 

We’ve all been hurt by hypocrisy—and while it’s easy to recall those wounds, it’s a little harder to acknowledge the times we’ve been hypocritical ourselves—when our own behavior didn’t live up to the character of Christ. 

Have you ever: 

• Acted one way at 11 p.m. on a Saturday but acted completely differently in church on Sunday morning?
• Chimed into gossip about another person’s character flaw? 
• Used your knowledge of biblical theology with an air of pride? Or used Scripture as a weapon?
• Criticized someone for their sin without acknowledging that you once struggled with that very same issue?
• Deem someone else’s lie unforgivable while justifying your own dishonesty? 

The list of ways we’ve been hypocritical can feel endless, but Jesus doesn’t leave us drowning in that list. If we want our church to be known for its Christlike character rather than its hypocrisy, we can start by reflecting on the ways we’ve personally engaged in hypocritical behavior. Rather than judging others for less-than behavior, we can ask for forgiveness from those we’ve hurt with our own actions and can seek God’s help in doing better next time. 

How often have you heard someone say, “I like Jesus, but not His followers?” The judgment they feel keeps them away—and who can blame them? We all have fallen short of God’s standard to love one another well, and in some capacity, we all have been hypocrites. In Matthew 7:3–5, Jesus warns us about the weight of judgment we bring on ourselves when we judge others and act like hypocrites—pointing out the speck in another person’s eye while ignoring the plank in our own eye. 

Acknowledging our own hypocrisy with humility is the beginning of healing. It’s the first step in building a bridge to those who don’t know Christ and to those who have walked away from the church because of the actions of Jesus’ followers. 

God never leaves us without hope. Even in our hypocrisy, He opens the door for repentance and forgiveness. When we extend grace to one another—and ourselves—we heal and grow. When we become a judgment-free community that people are drawn to, they’re also drawn to the God we serve. We become a safe, loving church that attracts the world around us just as Jesus intends us to be.

Written by Justine Fernandez, Willow Creek Communications Manager