There is a reason we are required, in a court of law to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and that is there are many ways to deceive. Omitting some of the truth, for example, can be just as deceptive as lying. Then there are a multitude of ways to exaggerate, twist, or distort the truth, or to otherwise deceive. The one the Bible describes as the enemy of our souls, is very good at such deceptions, he has after all, had thousands of years to practice his skill. He is a liar and the Father of lies. In light of this it might just be possible that he has deceived you, no matter how sharp or quick witted you are. The Bible speaks of him as the one deceives the whole World (Revelation 12:9). Not one of us has all the truth, and at some level we are all deceived. Since his agenda is to kill and to steal and to destroy, he uses deception to fool us up, to divert us from what is good and wholesome and to trip us up. The question then is not if we are deceived, but where! Of course if we knew we were believing a lie, we would not believe it! The deceptions of the Devil are subtle, and we need God's help to identify and change destructive patterns of thought, belief and behaviour.
An example is in order. I have a friend who used to tell me over and over “I am a looser”. I told him that this is a lie. “But is it true”, he told me, and went on to explain why it was true, where he had failed, what he and not done with his life. I would be less than honest if I did not admit that the world might well use the things he was saying to label him as a looser. But there are a host of lies that surround such labels. It has to do with what we value. In the West, these things consist of things like success, the accumulation of stuff, fame and fortune, beauty and intelligence. I am not saying these things are necessarily bad, but when they become the sole focus of our lives, they become idols, or false gods. The lie then that sits behind such labels is that it is the above things that give a person worth. It is these things that (in the World's eyes) define him or her as winner or looser, as cool or as geek. In the worlds' eyes maybe, but not in God's eyes. And not, when we are in our right mind, in our eyes either. What mother values her newborn for what he or she can do for her, or for what they have achieved? The baby is precious because he or she is a daughter or a son. This is the way that God thinks about us too. God affirmed Jesus before He even started ministry (Mark 1:11). I hope I have said enough for us to identify my friends words as false. They are I believe a deception of the Devil.
We need to say more about these things, but first I want to describe how believing these distortions too easily form a vicious cycle that keeps us wounded and stuck. Lets take the lie “I am a looser”. Believing this first and foremost undermines confidence. Many have been told over and over “you will never amount to anything, you are just like your father”. I doubt that those who say such things realize just how devastating they can be. I mean if this lie is believed (belief) then inevitably it will be accompanied by the expectation of failure, and this has to shows up in performance (behaviour). In order to succeed, we need to try new things, and the expectation of failure can cause us to fail to even try, or if we try we don't give it our best shot (after all what is the point, we are going to fail anyway). The result is of course predictable. We fail and the experience reinforces the belief. “See, I am a looser, I can't do anything right”. So then the belief (expectation) leads to the behaviour (attitude), which leads to the experience which reinforces the belief. Its called self fulfilling prophecy!
So far we are still identifying the destructive patterns of thought. As we start to move towards changing them we are given advice from the book of proverbs, which emphasizes over and over the need to get understanding. We will certainly need this if we are to untangle the deceptions of our enemy. So how do we get wisdom (understanding)? The Scriptures promise that we will have more wisdom than even our teachers when we immerse ourselves in, and continue in, His Word (Psalm 119:99; John 8:31). In terms of the specifics there is a wonderful promise in James 1:5. “If anyone lacks wisdom let Him ask of God who gives liberally and it shall be given”. I don't know about you, but I qualify for this promise!
Health and wholeness in the Christian life is not automatic. We need the milk of the Word when we are babes in Christ, but if we are content to live there we will not grow into maturity, for “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:13,14). The point is that when we first come to Christ, there will be many places where we may not yet be able to recognize good from bad. The passage from Hebrews is telling us that it is only as we exercise our (spiritual) senses (i.e. “by constant use have trained themselves”) that we will begin to see the good and the evil and even the strongholds in our lives. Like the athlete, we need to exercise our spirits vigorously and consistently in the deep things of God, when we do this we will be (being) transformed by the renewing of our minds. Then and only then will we be able to prove what is the good and perfect and acceptable will of God (Romans 12:1,2), and to fulfill our goal to “identify and change destructive patterns of thought, belief and behaviour”
We will need to talk not only about identifying these things, but also changing them. For today however, I want give some more examples of what Kylstras (of Restoring the Foundations) call ungodly beliefs. Here they are:
• My feelings don't count – no one cares how I feel
• I must not let anyone know who I am (I will always be rejected)
• My value is in what I do
• The perfect life has no conflict
• I am ugly
• I can never change
• No one has problems like me
• The best way to respond when someone hurts me is to cut them off
• I will always be lonely
• God loves others more than me
• When things go wrong, it is God punishing me
• I would be happy if I were rich / successful/ more intelligent
Like with my friend who felt he was a looser, some of these things may appear to be true. They are however all distortions of Biblical truth. For example, God thinks you are beautiful no matter what the World may say. Does that impact you, change you? Many of us have this "rubber heart" syndrome, where it just bounces off us. We need to find ways to ensure that these truths sink in, and for them to become who we believe ourselves to be. If we are to become whole, we must begin the process of taking more notice of what God thinks about us, than of the negative things others may think about us (see also switching fathers April 2011). More to come.
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