We Too Deceive Ourselves

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

 

Galatians 6:7

 

 

The supreme deceiver is Satan, who, "whenever he speaks a lie,… speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies" (See John 8:44). Though Satan has been defeated through the death and resurrection of Jesus from the dead, his chief purpose still remains—to deceive and destroy.

 

However, besides Satan being the great deceiver that he is, we see in this verse that we as believers tend to deceive ourselves. As far back as the Old Testament we see where Jeremiah warns, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick" (Jeremiah 17:9). So being warned both in the Old and New Testament should be enough to show us how easily we can be deceived. Just because we are believers, we are not immune from being deceived or self deceived.

 

And Paul is not the only one to warn us about being deceived or self deceived here in the New Testament, James makes it clear that it is vital that we not only know God's Word, but that we must obey it, "Prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves" (James 1:22). The fact that James calls us as believers to be "doers," rather than simply to do, emphasize that our ENTIRE personality is to be characterized in that manner.

 

If we are to live in the light and not be deceived by Satan or by ourselves, then we must purpose to walk by the leading of the indwelling Holy Spirit within us. We need to be sensitive to what God's Word and the Holy Spirit reveals and convicts us of in our own lives; as we do we will not be easily deceived by Satan or ourselves.

 

Are there areas in your life that you are being self deceived?