Avoiding Deception

Q: How do you know when you are deceiving yourself? Can you know if you are deceived?

A: Thank you for your questions. The only way to know if you are deceiving yourself or are deceived is to know the truth. If you have ever heard the expression, "like taking candy from a baby," you get an idea of how deception works. Babies, because of their youth, are ignorant of most everything that goes on around them. They do not know right from wrong or up from down, much less truth from error. That is why it is so easy to take advantage of them. That is why they have parents to protect them from their ignorance and teach them the truth. As a child grows in the truth they are able to start discerning the world around them and begin to make better decisions. And part of making better decisions is the ability to tell if you are deceiving yourself or being deceived. It is not any different when it comes to being a Christian. The Bible talks extensively about deception. Colossians 2:4 says, "I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments." Most often we are deceived because the error or lies told to deceive us sound good, make us feel good, are widely accepted or fit into our way of life. Just like with a child, the only way to overcome deception is to grow in the knowledge of the truth.

Jesus said, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:32)." We also know that Jesus is "the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6)." Therefore, if Jesus is the truth and the truth will set us free, then knowing Him will lead to us knowing the truth and protect us from being deceived. As a matter of fact, the sin we struggle with on a daily basis entered the world as a result of deception. "You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman (Genesis 3:4)." Satan was able to deceive Eve by questioning what God had told Adam about eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because Eve was not familiar with the truth she was deceived. Eventually, her ignorance of the truth led to Adam eating the forbidden fruit and sin entering the world. Jesus even equated those who lie and deceive with Satan. "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44)."

Jesus, by comparison, is the exact opposite of Satan. Peter said of Jesus, "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth (1 Peter 2:22).” There is a big difference between saying there is no truth in Satan and no deceit in Jesus. And if you extrapolate on that by saying that Jesus indwells every believer, through the Holy Spirit, then you know that you have the truth indwelling you as well. The byproduct of having the Holy Spirit within you is that you now have the ability to discern the truth from error. "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14)." It is only through the revelation of the Spirit of God that we can discern God's truth. Christians are children of God and it is God, our Father, that matures us in the grace and knowledge of His truth just like an earthly parent teaches a child truth. The result is that we are able to protect ourselves from the lies that deceive us from knowing the truth. The Bible consistently uses the example of being a child as a metaphor for teaching Christians how immaturity leads to being deceived.

"Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming (Ephesians 4:14)." You see that it is infants, children, who are susceptible to being deceived. They are the ones who fall prey to the lies of people like false teachers, false prophets, false brothers or the lies of the world. When you are not familiar with the truth as defined and discerned by the Holy Spirit your only left with trying to discern the truth through your own understanding. It is relying on our own understanding that leads to the acceptance and promotion of error that only deceives. If, as Jesus said, the truth will set you free then it stands to reason that error will keep you in bondage. Christians will continue to be spiritual children, deceiving and being deceived by the fine-sounding arguments of people in their deceitful scheming, as long as we are ignorant of the truth as discerned by the Holy Spirit of God. The only way to know if you are deceiving yourself or are deceived is by asking Jesus, through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, to reveal the truth to you. After all, if Jesus is truth and no deceit is in Him, He will tell you the truth and not deceive you. Be blessed.