Truth and Deception
In every-thing, every-decision, every-choice there is the Truth, and then there is our knowing, understanding and revelation of that truth. We can sometimes find that Truth, but often we only know small bits of it – sort of like how we only know small bits of the workings of our universe. Bottom line: we only know part of anything and to believe different is naive and a form of deception.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:9 – "For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect has come (the revelation of the Holy Spirit), then that which in in part will be done away. When I was child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I am known."
When we are Born-Again of Spirit and Truth, we enter in the BEGINNING stages of our training and knowledge, being relegated to children of the Faith. We are wowed by the revelations, teachings and truths we receive, which are only first-level teachings, and begin to build our little boxes of faith – expelling anything outside our boxes. Most often these lessons consists of our dos and don'ts, our habits, our environments, our friends, our practices – what we watch, what we sow into our lives, what we cut out of our lives, and begin to see the world differently – in black and white. The problem with all this: the world isn't black and white, nor is it various shades of gray. It's colorful, with every hue and brilliance imaginable. With our new found fragments of revelations of Truth, come also bits of misconception and deception. Just as much as the Truth is filled with power, so too are the deceptions.
King Solomon begs for understanding and wisdom all through the book of Proverbs. Read Chapters 1-4.There is clear warning of the dangers of simply being alive in a sinful world, and ignorance of the Truth is the weapon often used for our destruction.
When we are babes in the Faith, we are told of the might, majesty and power of God. We're told to trust in Him, believe in Him and run to Him for our provision, safety and deliverance. As a child, we needed Him completely. However, as we grow, as we are nurtured and instructed, we MUST come to point when we have to begin exercising the doctrines, beliefs and truths we have been instructed – we MUST be tested. Until we are tested, EVERYTHING we believe is only theory.
You don't know how many times I've discovered what I truly believed. I thought I fully believed and understood certain truths – was fully convinced – and knew enough Scripture to back them up. When the storms came, what I believed was washed away with the tide, and only the Truth remained. I thank God that I had been securely tied to a solid foundation or I would have been swept away. This is what happens to many people who fall away from the Faith. This is why there are more churches closing faster than bookstores; why more pastors are stepping down from their calling, and why more people walk around with these big holes in their hearts feeling a failure, dejected and disappointing. We have deceived ourselves in many areas of understanding. The Holy Spirit will purge those deceptions out of lives one way or the other – through testing, through trials and through tribulations.
I've noticed that most people believe God is some great magician – that if they say certain words, they go through certain motions and believe – God will move on their behalf, wiping away their troubles with a wave of His mighty hand, clean up their mess in a poof of smoke, and remove all responsibility or recourse of their actions. It's nice as a child to believe in magic, but the God I've come to know doesn't perform magic. He's not my fairy Godfather to make all my wishes and dreams come true or have the answer to make all my problems disappear. He is my Father. He understands this world is a cruel and sinful place and because of His love for me, He doesn't solve my problems FOR me, but makes me face them. He uses discipline, chastisement, rebuke and Truth to instruct me. (Hebrews 12:6) He encourages me, empowers me, protects me and shields me from the dangers that surround me. He equips me with the weapons I needs for protection and then trains me how to fight, defend, and strike at my enemies. He has given me the Holy Spirit – who reveals the Truth of this age. He searches all things, especially the deep things of God. No one but the Holy Spirit knows the things of God. With the Holy Spirit, we will have access to the knowledge of the Truth. The Holy Spirit compares the natural things (wisdom) of this world with the spiritual things (wisdom) of God. (1 Corinthians 2:6-16)
We deceive ourselves more than the enemy deceives us. When we falter under our own self-deception, we then blame God, the Church, or our brothers and sisters for our mistake. God NEVER promises that our lives are always going to be 'peachy'. In fact, He constantly warns us to be ready, to be prepared, and to be equipped to stand in the midst of our storms. In Ecclesiastes 3 we learn there is a time for everything. Don't deceive yourselves into thinking that tragedy will escape us as long as we walk the straight and narrow. On the contrary - the more mature we grow, the stronger we become - the bigger the storm.
What I've come to understand is this: We cannot control what happens to us; what storms we enter, by what trials we are tested, or what tribulations come upon us. No matter how faithful or how disobedient we choose to be, we have NO control. We sow seeds of life or death into our lives with every thought, decision and action we take; and we reap the consequences of those seeds – no matter how much grace and forgiveness we receive. Grace and forgiveness from repentance covers the spiritual price (spiritual death) of our actions, not the natural consequences. This is a truth; most often being the reasoning behind many of our hardships. However, we Christians are the most judgmental of one another – (as Job's friends were of him) determining in our own partial understanding that people going through such trials and tribulations in their lives MUST be the result of sin and disobedience – a judgment of God, instead of a growing pain sent by God. We deceive ourselves with our godly knowing of good and evil into thinking we understand everything – and make judgments against one another. I'm guilty most of all. I'm LEARNING to judge fruit, not circumstances. Hating the sin and its consequences, yet loving the sinner and the available redemption.
I have seen evil happen to the righteous, and good happen to the evil. It rains on both, the good and the evil; the righteous and the sinner. I have seen good parents with rebellious children, and bad parents with faithful children; I have seen a miserable rich man, and a happy poor man. I have seen natural disasters, diseases; accidents and acts of terror take the lives of both the wicked and the righteous. I have witnessed justice and injustice. I have seen those weak of faith receive miracles, healings and deliverances stand beside the faithful who continue to suffer. I have asked "Why is it this way?" This doesn't fit my little box. In my black and white world – the faithful always receives blessings, the victim always receives justice, and the innocent always receives freedom. But that's not always true.
It is not what happens to us or what we experience that makes us who we are: It's how we respond that separates us and sets us apart. It's not material possessions, success in our careers, obedience of our children, our degree of study or our position in church or in life that distinguishes us. It's our ability to forgive when we are abused, to give when we've lost everything, to stand when the world is set against us. It's our ability to HOPE regardless of the situation, to have FAITH in a faithless society, and to LOVE in in a loveless world. What good are a Strong Tower, Fortress of Strength, Weapons of Warfare, and the Armor of God except in the midst of a battle? To believe that our life will always be 'peachy' as long as we're obedient, faithful and attend church on a regular basis (which is the elementary doctrine of most beliefs) – these being the fruit of our labors, is deceptive. While at times we will enjoy peace, prosperity and blessings, we will also experience storms, trials and tribulations – growing pains. These storms will either strengthen us or destroy us. As the Apostle Paul encouraged the Corinthians – let us not deceive ourselves. Seek the Truth and hold onto it with all our might as we bear our storms.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:9 – "For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect has come (the revelation of the Holy Spirit), then that which in in part will be done away. When I was child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I am known."
When we are Born-Again of Spirit and Truth, we enter in the BEGINNING stages of our training and knowledge, being relegated to children of the Faith. We are wowed by the revelations, teachings and truths we receive, which are only first-level teachings, and begin to build our little boxes of faith – expelling anything outside our boxes. Most often these lessons consists of our dos and don'ts, our habits, our environments, our friends, our practices – what we watch, what we sow into our lives, what we cut out of our lives, and begin to see the world differently – in black and white. The problem with all this: the world isn't black and white, nor is it various shades of gray. It's colorful, with every hue and brilliance imaginable. With our new found fragments of revelations of Truth, come also bits of misconception and deception. Just as much as the Truth is filled with power, so too are the deceptions.
King Solomon begs for understanding and wisdom all through the book of Proverbs. Read Chapters 1-4.There is clear warning of the dangers of simply being alive in a sinful world, and ignorance of the Truth is the weapon often used for our destruction.
When we are babes in the Faith, we are told of the might, majesty and power of God. We're told to trust in Him, believe in Him and run to Him for our provision, safety and deliverance. As a child, we needed Him completely. However, as we grow, as we are nurtured and instructed, we MUST come to point when we have to begin exercising the doctrines, beliefs and truths we have been instructed – we MUST be tested. Until we are tested, EVERYTHING we believe is only theory.
You don't know how many times I've discovered what I truly believed. I thought I fully believed and understood certain truths – was fully convinced – and knew enough Scripture to back them up. When the storms came, what I believed was washed away with the tide, and only the Truth remained. I thank God that I had been securely tied to a solid foundation or I would have been swept away. This is what happens to many people who fall away from the Faith. This is why there are more churches closing faster than bookstores; why more pastors are stepping down from their calling, and why more people walk around with these big holes in their hearts feeling a failure, dejected and disappointing. We have deceived ourselves in many areas of understanding. The Holy Spirit will purge those deceptions out of lives one way or the other – through testing, through trials and through tribulations.
I've noticed that most people believe God is some great magician – that if they say certain words, they go through certain motions and believe – God will move on their behalf, wiping away their troubles with a wave of His mighty hand, clean up their mess in a poof of smoke, and remove all responsibility or recourse of their actions. It's nice as a child to believe in magic, but the God I've come to know doesn't perform magic. He's not my fairy Godfather to make all my wishes and dreams come true or have the answer to make all my problems disappear. He is my Father. He understands this world is a cruel and sinful place and because of His love for me, He doesn't solve my problems FOR me, but makes me face them. He uses discipline, chastisement, rebuke and Truth to instruct me. (Hebrews 12:6) He encourages me, empowers me, protects me and shields me from the dangers that surround me. He equips me with the weapons I needs for protection and then trains me how to fight, defend, and strike at my enemies. He has given me the Holy Spirit – who reveals the Truth of this age. He searches all things, especially the deep things of God. No one but the Holy Spirit knows the things of God. With the Holy Spirit, we will have access to the knowledge of the Truth. The Holy Spirit compares the natural things (wisdom) of this world with the spiritual things (wisdom) of God. (1 Corinthians 2:6-16)
We deceive ourselves more than the enemy deceives us. When we falter under our own self-deception, we then blame God, the Church, or our brothers and sisters for our mistake. God NEVER promises that our lives are always going to be 'peachy'. In fact, He constantly warns us to be ready, to be prepared, and to be equipped to stand in the midst of our storms. In Ecclesiastes 3 we learn there is a time for everything. Don't deceive yourselves into thinking that tragedy will escape us as long as we walk the straight and narrow. On the contrary - the more mature we grow, the stronger we become - the bigger the storm.
What I've come to understand is this: We cannot control what happens to us; what storms we enter, by what trials we are tested, or what tribulations come upon us. No matter how faithful or how disobedient we choose to be, we have NO control. We sow seeds of life or death into our lives with every thought, decision and action we take; and we reap the consequences of those seeds – no matter how much grace and forgiveness we receive. Grace and forgiveness from repentance covers the spiritual price (spiritual death) of our actions, not the natural consequences. This is a truth; most often being the reasoning behind many of our hardships. However, we Christians are the most judgmental of one another – (as Job's friends were of him) determining in our own partial understanding that people going through such trials and tribulations in their lives MUST be the result of sin and disobedience – a judgment of God, instead of a growing pain sent by God. We deceive ourselves with our godly knowing of good and evil into thinking we understand everything – and make judgments against one another. I'm guilty most of all. I'm LEARNING to judge fruit, not circumstances. Hating the sin and its consequences, yet loving the sinner and the available redemption.
I have seen evil happen to the righteous, and good happen to the evil. It rains on both, the good and the evil; the righteous and the sinner. I have seen good parents with rebellious children, and bad parents with faithful children; I have seen a miserable rich man, and a happy poor man. I have seen natural disasters, diseases; accidents and acts of terror take the lives of both the wicked and the righteous. I have witnessed justice and injustice. I have seen those weak of faith receive miracles, healings and deliverances stand beside the faithful who continue to suffer. I have asked "Why is it this way?" This doesn't fit my little box. In my black and white world – the faithful always receives blessings, the victim always receives justice, and the innocent always receives freedom. But that's not always true.
It is not what happens to us or what we experience that makes us who we are: It's how we respond that separates us and sets us apart. It's not material possessions, success in our careers, obedience of our children, our degree of study or our position in church or in life that distinguishes us. It's our ability to forgive when we are abused, to give when we've lost everything, to stand when the world is set against us. It's our ability to HOPE regardless of the situation, to have FAITH in a faithless society, and to LOVE in in a loveless world. What good are a Strong Tower, Fortress of Strength, Weapons of Warfare, and the Armor of God except in the midst of a battle? To believe that our life will always be 'peachy' as long as we're obedient, faithful and attend church on a regular basis (which is the elementary doctrine of most beliefs) – these being the fruit of our labors, is deceptive. While at times we will enjoy peace, prosperity and blessings, we will also experience storms, trials and tribulations – growing pains. These storms will either strengthen us or destroy us. As the Apostle Paul encouraged the Corinthians – let us not deceive ourselves. Seek the Truth and hold onto it with all our might as we bear our storms.
No comments have been added yet.
