Deception

I have been thinking about how easy it can be to become deceived. Although there are many forms of deception, what I am thinking about is deceiving ourselves. James tells us to “be doers of the word, and not only hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22) It is also important to understand that we need to do what God has uniquely called us to do. I have been thinking about this from a personal context and so I will explain what I mean and then some of the things I am learning.

I had someone who has been a pretty decent influence on my life tell me that he did not believe Sudan was a “calling” in my life, but only a “passion”. At first I was quite hurt by what he said. I could not understand how someone who has known me for several years could just make such a flippant comment. I wanted to justify myself and make sure that he knew what I believe God has called me to do in Sudan etc. The problem with this was several fold.

1. I became more focused on letting this guys words control me, than living out what God had already told me to do.

2. I had put such a weight in what this guy said that I started to let his words misdirect my focus (i.e. trying to justify myself instead of just living out what God has told me to do and let my actions speak). Therefore, instead of doing what God wanted me to do because I believe God told me, I started to think about doing stuff in order to prove myself (i.e. this is a huge form of self deception).

3. The deception that “doing the word” was good enough to prove I was “called” became part of my focus. I am not saying that we should not be “doers of the word”, but we must have proper information and focus behind what we are doing.

4. Ultimately, the guy is wrong. This is not necessarily bad to think, but the challenge is to not hold any grudges. For me this is a daily battle. Sometimes it can be easy to default into this thinking, yet this would be another form of letting his words control me in an adverse way.

You will almost always have people who try to detract you in your life. Sometimes they are speaking up for a good reason. Other times people just do not think about what they say. Yet, other times people just try to extinguish something in you. We must be people who live so near to God, that even in the face of detracting words we are able to use these comments as an encouragement to hear the voice of God again. This is not just some “fluff thinking”. This is how we begin to live out the life of being “more than a conqueror” (Rom. 8). We must strive to hear God at all times so that we do not deceive ourselves into acting or thinking in a way that is contrary to what God is telling us. I pray we do not become people who are deceived by others or ourselves. I also pray that we would be people who are so discerning that when people are warning us for good, we will listen.