Things are not what they seem. Especially in the church. G.K. Chesterton once wrote, in answer to the question “What’s wrong with the world?”, “Dear sirs, I am.” The greatest argument against Christianity is the hypocrisy of Christians. Our church culture has created “whitened sepulchres,” Christians who are clean looking on the outside, but filled with corruption and death on the inside.

So, we should abandon Christianity, right? It’s unlivable after all! Hardly! Instead of putting on our little show for the guests that attend our church services this Christmas season, let’s not put our best foot forward, but our real broken and gnarled foot forward. Let’s extend love in honest humility and stop playing the “I’m more pious than you” game. We’re all broken, in need of redemption, so let’s act like it–or go do something more useful-like skinning a mule deer.