Be Real

 Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day on this glorious Friday afternoon in my Sweet Home Alabama!

I have a couple of things I want to share with you all briefly this afternoon.

The first thing I want to talk about briefly, I actually shared in the June 28, 2025, Happy Friday titled, “Woe. Woe. Woe.” In that Happy Friday, I shared excerpts from Pastor Craig Groeschel's newest book titled, The Benefit of Doubt: How Confronting Your Deepest Questions Can Lead to A Richer Faith. I want to reshare a specific excerpt I shared – in that Happy Friday, I shared a bunch – and really focus on it. Here is the excerpt:

“He already knew that, just like every other human, they were sinners. The problem he was addressing was their constant attempts to cover it up. They presented a false exterior, manipulating the impressions of others. To Jesus, their deception was what made the Pharisees hypocrites.”

I have given a lot of thought to that excerpt and had a couple of conversations with others about it over the past few weeks. It is key; it is not that they sinned…Jesus already knew that they were sinners. It was the attempt to cover it up, and perhaps most intolerable was that it was done to manipulate the impressions of others. THAT was the hypocrisy that Jesus spoke so strongly against.

Anyone besides me feeling convicted right now? I have been there, a hypocrite. I did things that I shouldn’t have done, and then I hid it because I didn’t want others to know I did/was doing something I shouldn’t be doing. Perhaps that is a good gauge or litmus test for all of us; if we have to hide it or can’t tell everyone about it, we probably shouldn’t be doing it! Think about it; would you be ashamed to tell someone you helped someone, volunteered, saved an animal in distress, etc.? While you might not like the idea and would prefer not to draw attention to yourself, humility, you wouldn’t feel like you had to hide it because you are concerned others would think worse of you because of it. Now, how about watching pornography, getting drunk, etc.? Would you feel like you had to hide it? Right about now, the defense mechanisms kick in: “It is none of your business!” “I can do whatever I want!” The points are correct; however, if someone is hiding what they are doing to manipulate others’ impressions of them, by definition, they are a hypocrite – that includes me and you.

Let’s take off the masks and be real, Friends. We all sin, and there is great wisdom in accepting the love, mercy, and grace of Jesus, which we can only do by acknowledging our wrongdoing. Everything gets ratcheted up to a whole new level when we try to manipulate others by hiding those sins, the times we fall short. Let’s be the real, authentic people we were created to be. If we make a mistake or sin, let’s own up to it, apologize, and repent as appropriate, learn from it, and then move forward. Don’t waste the lesson by denying or hiding the wrongdoing, and at the same time, don’t camp out there for the rest of your life – it was a lesson, not a life sentence. As Pastor Craig regularly says on the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast, “People would rather follow a leader who is always real than a leader who is always right.”

I want to close by sharing a profound quote I came across this morning:

“The day you find out who you are is when you look back and realize that it was never the words, rather your actions that defined you.” – Shannon L. Alder

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

Kev