“Beware of Self-deception”

We are all going through an ‘interesting’ and unprecedented experience as well!!! It may be because we miss each other so badly or because we do not understand the logic of uncertainty. Uncertainty adds splendor to the mystical equations of life. I do believe that uncertainty carries God’s grace in an indefinable fashion.
If I tempted you, you would know it. If I accused you, you would know it. But if I deceived you, you would not know it. If you knew you were being deceived, then you would not no longer be deceived. Eve was deceived because she believed a lie. Self-deception is one of the primary avenues through which Satan will attempt to dissuade us from God’s truth and deceives us into believing his lies. There are more than a few ways in which we can betray ourselves:
1. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (1John 1:8)
N.T.Anderson opines: “We are not sinless saints, we are saints who sin” We are not sin, but sin is possible for us and resides in our mortal bodies (Rom 6:12). In 1 John 1:8 we read: “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”. It challenges us to be aware of a discrepancy between our identity in Christ and our behaviour. Any attempt to take this potential incongruity for granted is self-deception itself.
2. If our lives don’t reflect love/truth/justice/hope, we deceive ourselves (James 1:22)
Often we preach and teach against the very sins we are committing ourselves. The content and crux of our faith is the unconditional and unreserved love of God in Christ. In our social life and Church life, we are bound to walk by our faith. That is to live out by the quintessence of our faith. It is nothing but radiating and disseminating the fragrance of God’s love. Let people around know that we are genuinely engaged in the process of growing unto the stature of Christ. To profess a faith as if it were true in our lives when it is not is to live a lie, and we will be deceiving ourselves (James 1:22: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves)..
3. If we do not control our tongues, we deceive ourselves (James 1:26)
There is nothing that grieves God more than when we slander/ defame/ abuse people more willingly than building them up. We are to edify one another in what we say and thereby give grace to those hear us (Eph 4:29-30). If our language/tongue/speech is out of our control, we are fooling ourselves to believe that we have our spiritual life together (James 1:26: If any one thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man's religion is vain).


4. If we think we are something we are not, we deceive ourselves (Gal 6:3)
Galatians 6:3 (“For if any one thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself) obviously instructs us not to think of ourselves more highly (inflated self understanding) than we ought to think. It does not mean that we should not have a positive self-understanding. The lives we live, the talents we possess, and the gifts we have received are the expressions of God’s grace. Never take credit for what God has generously provided; rather rejoice in doing the will of God.

5. If we think we will not reap what we sow, we deceive ourselves (Gal 6:7)
In Galatians 6:7 we read: “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap”. As ‘churchians’ (courtesy to the Sadhu Sundar Sing’s coinage, “Churchianity”) we sometimes think that we are exempted from this eternal law, but we are not. We will have to live with the consequences of our words and deeds.

Undetected and unacknowledged sin is like a cancer cell. If self-deception is identified at an early stage, the prognosis is good. Let us always remember self-deception is dangerous!!