I am a person who does NOT like to be misled or tricked! I am programed to take things earnestly and I don’t always get a good joke or know what everyone is laughing about at the dinner table. So… to be deceived by any trick is certainly NOT in the docket I came in with! For me, understanding that in addition to crafty false teachers in any realm of learning and deceiving spirits, I can fool myself! We are to “see to it that no one takes us captive through philosophy and empty deception…” (Col. 2: 8)
There are many ways we moms can deceive ourselves. Thinking others can sin and get away with it with no consequence, is one. Hearing God’s Word but not doing it (Jas. 1:22; 4: 17); thinking I am something I’m really not (Gal. 6: 3); not calling sin…sin (I Jn. 1: 8); thinking I am wise in the things of the world (I Cor. 3: 18, 19) ; thinking I will not reap what I sow (Gal. 6: 7); thinking that ungodly people who live lives of sin will share in God’s kingdom (I Cor. 6: 9); thinking I can hang out with bad people and they won’t have any bad influence on me. (I Cor. 15: 33); thinking I can be a good Christian and still hurt others by what I say. (Jas. 1:22)… are but a few of the lies we believe…proven out by the fruit of our life.
Often when confronted by someone who is demonstrating love to us (more than they love themselves) and is taking a chance on our friendship to shed light on our area of need, we defend ourselves, instead of taking responsibility for it. We refuse to face the bad things that have happened to us (denial of reality); or we escape from the real world by distracting activities (computer, video games, music, involvement in social media, losing ourselves and our issues (fantasy). We withdraw from people to avoid rejection or we take our frustration out on others. We make excuses or blame others for our problem. There are names for all of these responses but none of them set us free from the “evil tricks” of Satan that work against us in life!
“The best way to show that a stick is crooked is
NOT to argue about it or to spend time denouncing it,
BUT to lay a straight stick along-side it.” (D.L. Moody)
When faced with issues like legalizing marijuana (because we are told we must allow them to exist because we cannot legislate morality), I am reminded that The Law was given for the immoral! Pro. 12:17 Or abortion…the argument states that a full-term baby is only a “fetus”, hence…murder is acceptable! Deception is believing a lie that begins when the mind and emotions agree on error and is fulfilled when we will to do it!
We are responsible for the false philosophies we adopt.
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world,
and not after Christ” (Col 2: 8).
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
