June 2010 - Deceipt

We possess the efficient ability to DECEIVE ourselves. Then of course, if we are deceiving ourselves, WE DON'T KNOW IT. This ability gets us into much trouble. We become "blind" to the truth about ourselves and even when pointed out, we still are not able to "get it."

Have you ever known someone "just like their mother/father" and when told that, they reel in denial. "ME?" they say, "yes, you" you say. I once knew a man who smoked 2-3 packs of cigarettes daily and when queried as to that wisdom, he remarked," Oh, they haven't proved that. It's just a conspiracy against the tobacco companies." I knew a teen who reported, "Smoking grass doesn't hurt you."

As a school teacher I would ask my students, "If you were being deceived, do you think you would know it?" To which 75-80% would raise their hand. I was looking at a sea of vulnerable young people.

The truth is, we can train ourselves to believe a lie. In James. 1:22-24 we see a spiritual illustration of this fact. In verse 22 we see the connection between "looking" at something but refusing to see it. There are many reasons for this, but the end result is actually "deceiving" ourselves. In other words, we train ourselves to ignore the truth. We "learn" how to forget. Then the picture is given of a man who looks in mirror and turns away when he see something he doesn't want to face. The text says he "immediately" forgets what he doesn't want to face. This is learned process. We practice it over and over until we do it automatically.

Back to the schoolhouse. I assigned homework from time to time and notoriously some of my champions had trouble turning it in. One day I stood in the hallway watching a chronic "forgetter" of homework load his backpack. I watched as he stared at his locker deciding what to take home. He had just left my class and I know he hadn't done my assignment and I watched him pack his history, english and health books along with other items. He slammed his locker door shut (why do they have to do that) and wheeled away. "Hey!" I said what about my book. To which he responded, "huh....oh yeh.... guess I forgot." I immediately retorted, "yes, you forgot because you 'planned' to forget the moment I assigned it."

Do you do that? Have you trained yourself to forget? Do you look in the mirror of life and refuse to see the truth? Ask a true friend if they see things that you are missing. Better yet, ask God to shed light on your insight. You are probably deceiving yourself in some areas.

"Dear God, I am a great deceiver, I do not want to be like THE great deceiver. Please shed light on my shadows and dark spots. I want to see them just like you do. Amen"