Peter admonished “newborn babes” in Christ to lay aside all hypocrisies. It is a natural battle that every babe in Christ must face. A new believer might have an inappropriate longing to please the one who led him to the Lord rather than giving the Lord preeminence. He might perform actions in hopes that his spiritual mentor will take notice. Eventually, this fault blossoms to the point where he begins to see problems in others while failing to realize the same problems exist in his own life. He might work hard to obey the strictest of commands while missing the overall desire of the Lord in his own life. Even as a babe in Christ, he must work to lay aside hypocrisy. Until he does, he will never grow into the mature believer the Lord wants him to be.
Some people attribute a lack of joy to unfavourable circumstances. They believe joy is attainable only when their circumstances enable them to experience joy. The Bible offers a completely different perspective. Paul testified, “I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.” Paul experienced tribulation and yet was exceeding joyful! He also wrote of the churches of Macedonia abounding in joy though they were “in a great trial of affliction” (2 Corinthians 8:2). Furthermore, Paul wrote of the saints of God in Thessalonica that they received the word of God with joy even though they were “in much affliction” (1 Thessalonians 1:6). Lastly, believers should “count it all joy” when falling into divers temptations (James 1:2). We should understand that our joy as Christians is not dependent upon favourable circumstances.
