Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105
Revelation 3
Revelation 3:1 …you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. NIV.
How tragic are some of the accounts in Scripture. The foundational record regards the temptation of Adam and Even in the garden. This illustrates the destructive power of self-deception. God clearly instructed the original couple of His prohibition from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (The fruit is usually depicted as an apple, but I think it was a banana – because it was so appealing!) Eve chose, instead of obedience, to deceive herself (and Adam was right there silently approving) and decided, since the fruit was lovely and desirable to make her wise, to ear the forbidden fruit.
Most of my understanding of God’s will is derived from God’s inspired Word and the counsel of Christians over the centuries. I do not have direct personalize communication from God. If Adam could deceive himself after speaking directly with God in the cool of the evening, how much more powerful a danger is self-deception to me. I need a continual process of accountability to God through prayer and meditation; and with others through worship and fellowship.
One of my areas of weakness and susceptibility to self-deception is assuming that right knowledge is what makes me acceptable to God. An extreme form of this is someone I know who stated that he had accepted Christ as his Savior. Thus, he now had his “fire insurance” and it didn’t matter how he lived. This is an extreme view and clearly a distortion of the belief that genuine believer will persevere in their faith. Yet, the assumption of the priority of belief remains a challenge today for man, even entire denominations.
I believe God uses various denominations to remind the church as a whole of the broad applications of his intentions for ministry and understanding. How tragic, though, when denominations feel that it is their way or the highway. They hold that they have rediscovered the “pure” doctrine of the New Testament church. Therefore, anyone who disagrees with them is opposed to the Bible. With vitriol, anger, and deprecating words they defame others who are not of their group. In holding to a set of doctrines they deceive themselves and justify unloving behavior and thus, in my opinion defame the Savior who bought them.
May I (and all who read this) submit both our thoughts and actions to Christ and His mission.
May the meditations of my mind, the words of my mouth, and the actions of my life be acceptable in your sight. Amen.
davedeanblog 