I believed a lie

It needed to be said. We don’t like to admit that we are believing a lie, but as long

as we cling to our lie, there is no hope for us. Why? Because for God to heal us,

and begin a relationship with us, it requires brutal honesty on our part. Don’t get

me wrong, God is not going to ‘beat you up’ with that information: ‘how could

you?’ or ‘what have you done?’. No. But we do need to acknowledge that He is

right: His ways are right and ours are wrong! And that’s exactly what happened

to me. On the day God Himself came to get me, I had this thought: ‘what if He is

right and I am not?’ and there was only one way for me to find out, so I opened

my Bible which had been gathering dust and began to read. That was 6 years ago.

Today I was reading in Colossians, and I got stuck on this phrase: ‘I am saying this

so that no one will deceive you with arguments that sound reasonable.’

(Colossians 1:4). Did you notice that too? What the world says, well, it sounds

reasonable! Satan is real, and he is the ‘Father of Lies”. He lies to us! He tricks us!

Did you notice how he got Eve in the garden of Eden? First, he made her

dissatisfied with God when he said: ‘Did God really say you can’t eat from any tree

in the garden?’ (Gen 3:1b). No, God didn’t say that. In fact, He said almost the

opposite! He said: ‘you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must

not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from

it, you will certainly die.’ (Gen 2:17). He tricked her with a lie, but it was a lie that

was embedded with truth. Part of what he said was true. She was going to be

aware of good and evil. Her eyes were going to be opened, and in that sense, she

was going to be like God! That’s why it sounded reasonable. But as soon as their

eyes were opened, they were aware of their sin, and now they wanted to hide

from God.

Here’s the lie I fell for 7 or 8 years ago:’ I thought my husband was supposed to

make me happy, but he’s not, and God doesn’t care if I’m happy so I need to

make myself happy any way I can.’ Sounds reasonable, right? So, I proceeded to

try to make myself happy, thinking only about myself. Looking back, it sounds

crazy that someone would be willing to throw away their family to try to be

‘happy’! But that’s what happens: we are told that sin ‘easily entangles us’ and

that when we persist in a sin our ‘foolish minds are darkened’! And this is where I

ended up: ‘There is no fear of God before his eyes for in his own eyes he flatters

himself too much to detect or hate his sin.’ (Psalms 36:2). That was me. I was

lying to myself, but I wasn’t happy! I told myself I wasn’t hurting anyone, but that

was a lie too. And God came and got me! He woke me up before it was too late,

and my life began to change!

So, here’s how we can guard ourselves against arguments that ‘sound reasonable’

but are really lies from the enemy designed to destroy us:

1. Get to know Jesus. Don’t claim to know Him if you don’t. ‘I want their

hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love so that they may have

all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s

mystery- Christ, in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and

knowledge.’ (Col 1:2,3). It’s not enough to ask Jesus to forgive of your sin

and then deliberately keep on sinning. When you get to know Him for real,

your desires will change. You will no longer want to keep doing things that

hurt him when you realize what He had to do to save you from those

things!

2. Continue to live in Him. ‘So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as

Lord, continue to live in him, being rooted and built up in him and

established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with

gratitude.’ (Col 1:6). This is the fun part! After you have acknowledged your

sin and desperate need for Jesus, then you want to get to know Him! When

I first returned to the Lord 6 years ago, I started reading in the book of John

and I don’t know why I did that, except that the Holy Spirit must have

prompted me! And I realized that even though I had asked Jesus to forgive

my sin as a 9-year-old, that I had not gotten to know Him! And we are told

that if we seek Him with all our heart that He will let us find Him! Do you

know what I pray for now? I ask Him to show me something new about

Himself and He does!

3. Overflowing with gratitude. When I was living to please only myself,

gratitude was completely missing from my life. I wasn’t thankful for

anything! But on the day Jesus came to get me, I was overwhelmed with a

sense of God’s goodness to me in my very existence! Think about it: you

were created by God. In fact, the world around us proves that there is a

Creator. It’s only our pride that causes us to stuff that knowledge away.

We are told that there will be scoffers in the last days: ‘They deliberately

overlook this: By the word of God the heavens came into being long ago

and the earth was brought about from water and through water.’ (2 Peter

3:5). Don’t let that be you! When I realized that I was dependent on God’s

grace for my next breath, it changed the way I viewed all of life! And now I

am overflowing with gratitude at His goodness! There is always something

to be thankful for. Start thanking God for the good in your life and watch

what happens!

4. Be careful what you let into your mind. ‘Be careful that no one takes you

captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition,

based on the elements of the world rather than Christ.’ (Col 1:8). The only

way to guard yourself against things that sound reasonable but are really

lies, is to get to know Jesus for yourself. For real. Open your Bible and read

the gospels! Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You are so loved, and God has

good plans for you that are better than yours! When you get to know Him,

you will believe that, and you will trust Him and your life will change. Mine

did.