Trapped in lies?

When I asked the young man about his choice, he offered an excuse, obviously lame; but he chose to believe it! He is the captive of a deception of his own making, trapped in a house of mirrors, illusions he loves more than the truth. We tell ourselves many different comforting lies. It’s our ‘truth.’   Of course, it isn’t really true at all, but we choose to think that it is. By way of example, we can see those who live with some medical issue that they will not acknowledge. The symptoms are there. Others see them, but the sick person ignores them, offering explanations, avoiding the truth. Admitting that the symptoms are real would demand action so some choose to deceive themselves. The lies we tell ourselves keep us enslaved to sin, sick in body, and rob our success.

What freedom is found when we choose to live in truth.

The Scripture urges us to pursue the Truth and to obey it.

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does." (James 1:22-25, NIV) 

If we desire to live in the truth, we need a standard outside of ourselves. The Scripture serves that purpose. The Word of God tells us what is right, what is wrong, who God is, and what pleases Him. But, does knowing what is right mean we will do it? No! The Word laments this tragedy. "It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin." (Romans 7:21-25, NLT)

Good intentions, self-discipline, accountability partners have their limits, don’t they?   A truth confronts us: "we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us. " (Romans 3:23, The Message) There’s a word for this - depravity.   

If we desire to live in the truth, we need a Savior who is bigger than our sin. There is a truth that wraps around our incapability, that makes all the difference. "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)." (Ephesians 2:4-5, NKJV) In faith, we accept His intervention and we find liberation from the sin that holds us back as well as the trap of our lies. 

If we desire to live in the truth, we need the Spirit who is constantly present to guide. Christians enjoy an amazing gift. God, the Holy Spirit, lives in us. Jesus promises "The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn’t speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen."(John 16:13, CEV) He makes living in the Truth possible! We learn to ‘walk in the Spirit.’ 

If we desire to live in the truth, we need to be part of the Body, the Church, that encourages us. I am blessed to have people in my life who will tell me the truth, no matter what. They hold up a mirror for me! Thank God for them. The Word reminds us to “encourage one another daily.”

Here’s a word from the Word. Lord, call us to live in the Truth.

"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it."

(Hebrews 3:12-4:1, NIV)