No one likes being deceived really. Now we don’t mind generally if it’s sneaking around a Christmas gift or a surprise party, but we tend to prefer the truth. We want people to tell us the truth and be honest with us. However, there is one person each of us deals with who has a tendency to lie to us. That person is ourselves.
If anyone lies to us the most, it is us. I often have to have my friends back me up constantly as I am one of the worst at this and if a recording could be made of the thoughts that go on in my head everyday, they would be absolutely stunned. Being in a new city closer to a new friend has helped a lot, but old habits die hard. Rest assured if this is you also, you are not alone.
Gary Habermas has recommended I get the book “Telling Yourself The Truth” by William Backus and Marie Chapman, so I pass the advice on to you as well. The truth in it has been said to be next to salvation, the most liberating truth you will ever hear. Most of what we go through in suffering is not brought about by what happens to us, but what we tell ourselves about what happens to us.
This is one reason I am very cautious about people saying they feel led. I see no basis in Scripture to give our feelings divine authority. Is it any wonder I see several people who feel like they’re terrible people when they’re good Christians and think that God is condemning them because they always feel guilty and ashamed.
The Christian view is that we are created in God’s image. We are people he loves even if we don’t feel his love or feel like he loves us. If we could but grasp for a moment that we are truly loved and truly forgiven, how much better off would we be? Just that one moment in time I think could change the rest of our lives.
Let’s also remember that in Christianity, you as an individual are good. It is the parts that do not reflect God that are not good. Sanctification is the process of God removing all that does not reflect him so that only that which is his reflection remains. In this way, you remain you and yet, you become a reflection of him that is pure.
Friends. We need to see God as he is, but we also need to see ourselves as we are. We will be with him for eternity and it can better help us if we really know who this is that will be with him for eternity. God created us the way he did for a reason. While I’m not for endless self-analysis, let’s be sure any analyzing we do of ourselves is rooted in the truth of who we are in Christ.
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