Articles
A Never Ending Deception
A Never Ending Deception
One powerful characteristic of Jesus is the attention some gave Him as the Master Teacher. Being a Master Teacher is His honesty. There was nothing to prove for Jesus. His truthful words defined His. They did not need “fact-checking”. All a disciple had to do was witness His good and honest heart in His behavior. Proving yourself to be true only needs honest endeavor (2 Corinthians 13:5). This Jesus did.
On the other side, Satan knows the best counter to an honest heart is a lying heart. A heart which is self-deceived can create a belief in our heart we “think” true. We can lie to our heart and believe premarital sex during engagement is okay if we are a couple committed to be married. Our heart can believe the lie of missing one worship service a week is not as bad as missing two. Some have been deceived to believe being baptized without being the “new man” (Colossians 3:9,10) gives one a greater hope than being a member of a denomination.
Such self-deception cannot characterize Christians. “Be not deceived” is an exhortation stated in many passages (1 Corinthians 6:9; 15:33; Galatians 6:7; James 1:16). Self-deception is one of the greatest temptations which gives promises it cannot deliver (Hebrews 3:13; 2 Peter 2:18,19).
The truth which should be imbedded in our heart comes from the observation certain Pharisees and Herodians about Jesus in Mark 12:14. “Teacher, we know that thou art true, and carest not for any one; for thou regardest not the person of men, but of a truth teachest the way of God…” Every disciple should be known to have this conviction. Let this be your life. For if the truth forever abides in our heart, we will avoid the temptation to think of ourself more highly than we ought to think (Romans 12:3,4).
Take the time to “weed your mind”. If not, no one will do it for you. Yet, it must be done honestly, or else the words Jesus teaches will be choked out of our life, and we will never bear fruit (Mark 4:7,19).
