Being a leader (both at work and at my church) that I hope ignites passions within other people and stirs them onward to growth, this word has been on my mind and heart a lot over the past month. Lately I have heard things like, “he doesn’t do anything near what I do back at my place” or “I know that we haven’t reached our expected levels yet, but we just had X, Y, and Z to take care of before that happened.” The reality behind both of these statements is staring me in the face more and more that none of us sees the whole picture. I could quickly point out to the first person the plethora of things that are done behind the scenes that proves that statement wrong. And, the second, I could show that the priorities were misplaced and thus we spent a lot of time focusing on something that wasn’t as important. But we tell ourselves these things, don’t we? Every day!! Most of (I know I do) MANY, MANY times throughout the day.
Since this word/practice that has been on my mind for the past few days and weeks, I decided to look up the root word, deceit and here’s what I found:
- The act or practice of deceiving; deception - Oh, OK, well that clears it all up, right!!!
- A stratagem; a trick - that’s a little better
- The quality of being deceitful; falseness - that’s probably the most clear!
And, since you can’t define one word by using another form of the same word, that led me to look up the word deception. Here you go with this one:
- The use of deceit - seriously?!?! What’s with defining 1 word with another form of the same word?
- The fact or state of being deceived - OK.....but we’re still using a form of the word to define it
- A ruse; a trick - HA! Now you’ve got it!
Now, I will start off by saying that I don’t think that any one of us sets out saying, “I’m going to see how much I can deceive myself today” or “I’m going to see who all I can trick into seeing things my way.” I think that it’s something that we simply do without ever even realizing it. But, I think that this word has been on my mind so much as I’ve watched people lately who have a false sense of who they truly are. They see themselves one way, but in reality do and act in ways that are totally uncharacteristic of what they claim. So, my concern is that they are deceiving themselves. Then I look at my own life and I think, “well, if so-and-so thinks this about themselves, how much do I think things about myself that aren’t true?” Some will say, “you shouldn’t ask that question” or “why waist your time with that when there other things that are more useful you should be doing.” But, isn’t this the battle we fight against satan in our own mind everyday? He tells us one thing, then we start to believe it despite the fact that scripture claims something entirely different.
For instance, satan will say, “you are a good person” when scripture tells us clearly that “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10b-12). Then, the lie comes that “you have done X, Y, and Z, so that means you have earned the right to take a break from that other stuff for a little while.” But, later in that same chapter of Romans (3:21-26), Paul writes the following:
“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get control of another lie that the adversary puts in front of our face. It’s the one that says, “you should never question whether or not you are saved.....you know 25 years ago you made a decision, right?” Well, again, Paul tells us in Philippians 2: 12-13, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-CONTINUE to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (emphasis added). While salvation is a one-time deal, sanctification is a life-long process. That’s what Paul’s talking about here.....the sanctification (just wanted to make that clear). But, according to this, we’re forced to look at the following question through these eyes:
What does your (and my) life have to say about these things?
Do your actions agree with scripture and has God changed your heart so that people see Him in you, not just you since that time?
Or, do you just talk about a time when you once believed and there is no change in you since then
OR, let’s take it one step further, do you just go to God when you “need” something (I’ll have to write again about the distorted “needs” of our culture - but that’s for another day and time)
To answer these, Let’s pull a little bit from Paul in Romans 10:9-10, where he writes “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” But, we can’t ignore what James, the brother of Jesus, writes in James 2:18-19, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder.” So, scripture tells us, yes, we do have to believe. But, we are told that we don’t simply stop right there!!
The rest of our entire life, God works in us to show Himself to us and to those around us that He is calling on a regular basis to come and to worship Him. I don’t pretend to know how He does this or what His basis is for calling some and not others. But, scripture tells us that it is so.
I guess the one scripture that has haunted me most during this process of trying to figure out why people believe one thing about themselves and that they don’t try any harder to see beyond their limited belief is that in Matthew 7:21-23 we have a shocking caution from Christ himself. He says, “‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” WHAT?!?! People who thought that they were doing something for the Lord were so deceived by what they had been doing. If you read a little before this passage, Christ warns against following false prophets and he specifically says that you will know a person by their actions.
Which brings me to the other thing that makes me fall on my face both in worship and in desperation for the Spirit of God. That is, how do we know that we are following God’s will. Just so you know, I am that person who is not afraid to pose a question that I don’t have an answer for. And, this is it! I find myself so often thinking, “God, if you would give me such-and-such blessing, this is how I would use it for your glory” or “God, if you would take this struggle away from me, the praise that others would bring you because of it will be wonderful.” But, the reality is, God is sovereign. He’s sovereign over all human nature because He created it! He’s sovereign over all nature - yep, let’s not forget that He created that too! He’s sovereign over everything in the entire world (and far beyond the world in ways that our little minds can’t even fathom). So, in the end, I know that the place that He has put my life is exactly where He can get the most glory from it today. That may all change tomorrow.....and this remains to be seen because tomorrow hasn’t come yet (for me.....the timelessness of God is also another topic that I don’t have time to get into right now). But I do have comfort that if He wanted my life in a different place, He would get it there. He has certainly given me more than I can handle alone over the past 10 years! I know that He won’t fail me now!
But, as I wrap this up, I want to get back to the original theme, which is deception. How do we guard against it? How do we know that we are who we say we are? My only advice for this is to surround yourself with Bible-believing Christ-followers who aren’t afraid to who you where your life falls short of scripture. This is what it means to be the Church. It’s not simply sitting back and saying, “whew.....if that person only really knew what they were acting like.” It’s our responsibility to one another and to the Lord that we claim to worship! We have to be one man sharpening another just as iron sharpens iron. If we can’t go to the Church for honesty like this, do we really think that we’ll be effective in the world of people who don’t care about following after Christ or only pay lip-service to Him? Just one more scripture to ponder over as you test your heart and work out your salvation, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ‘I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.’” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)
Now, let’s get rid of the deception in our lives both toward ourselves and toward others and get into the Word and let the LORD search and test our hearts!
