June 30, 2006

Hypocrite? Never!

My cousin Ron was a control-your-own destiny type person and at age 56 he was dying with cancer. When family members approached his hospital bed and witnessed to him about the Lord, he was nonchalant. With no intention of listening, he cordially agreed to a visit from a local minister. In one last ditch effort to get through to him, his brother Ken said, “Ron, you can be forgiven. All of us have sinned, but without the Lord, eternity (in hell) is a very, very long time.” Ron responded, “I’ve lived an honorable and a good life and I won’t change now. If all of a sudden I became a believer, I’d be a hypocrite.” In recounting this conversation Ken said, “You know, you just don’t argue and pick a fight with a man on his death bed, but I knew better. Ron hadn’t lived a good and honorable life.” Sadly Ron was already wearing the ‘hypocrite label’ he so staunchly resisted.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Gail;
----Those who go around labeling eveyone willing to recognize a hypocrite as being a hypocrite make themselves hypocrites by one tiny distinction: they are doing the labeling. Those who are willing to recognize a hypocrite for what he is do not label, they just see and understand.