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Deceptive Hearts

             The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

Shakespeare wrote, “How do I love thee, let me count the ways.” When it comes to our hearts (AKA: wills), we can replace the word love with deceive. I doubt I’ll come close to an exhaustive or comprehensive list, but here we go…

You’re good enough. (Or not good enough.)

You’re better than _______. (Or worse than.)

You’ve worked hard.

You deserve it.

You can handle it.

It’s been a hard day.

Everyone else…

            You’re a good person, therefore, what you want must be OK.

            No one will know - or care.

            You’re too ___________.

            If you do, everyone will say _________. (Whether good or bad things.)

            You need it.

            If you love ________, you’ll ___________.

            If you’re a good Christian/person, you’ll _____________.

            It’s your right, or your responsibility.

            You don’t have enough __________.

            You’re fighting for (truth, right, freedom, etc.)

            God understands (Yes, He does, but that’s not the point.)

            You’re a … winner, loser, freak, prize…

            If you had enough ________, you would not have this problem.

            I can’t live without _________.

            It’s my … body, life,…

            We lie to ourselves, and are deceived by ourselves, and we do such a good job that we believe what we’re told. Of course, when we want to be deceived, it doesn’t take much. And once we buy into the lies, we’re not going to welcome any ideas that run counter to them.

            In The Truth Project, Del Tacket often spoke about really believing what we say we believe. We all know the good Sunday School answers, but are we living by them? Or so we believe we are - or would if only it weren’t so hard. And it is hard. Part of the problem is that we don’t tend to believe what we say we believe. Or, sometimes, the issue is that we believe something that doesn’t work well within the worldview we claim we believe. A worldview is just the way we see things. A lot of it is subconscious. A somewhat silly example that 24-33% (depending on denomination) of people who claim to be Christians also believe in astrology. Some 74% of people who claim to be Christians believe in evolution. About 20% of those claiming to be Christians don’t believe in the God described in the Bible.

            Of course, those aren’t quite as personal as the things listed above - but the idea is the same. When we try to connect both what is and what is not Scriptural to our lives, it’s like adding a hand where it doesn’t belong, or a nose to the middle of our backs. It interferes with our ability to function as we’re supposed to. We may think they’re innocent or harmless, but ultimately, we’ll end up amputating one of the “hands” or “noses,” and chances are good that the one we’ll amputate is the one that God gave us, not the one we grafted on.

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