At the very nature of the person of God is the quality of truth (James 1:17; John 14:6; Numbers 23:19). Perfect truth. To follow Jesus is to know the truth and to be set free (John 8:32). In opposition to this truth at work in our hearts through Jesus is both our flesh and Satan who seek to fill our hearts and minds with lies (John 8:44).
From the very beginning the serpent sought to draw humanity into sin through the use of lies.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:1-6)
It started with a question: "Did God actually say...?" Temptation begins with ideas and propositions that put God's Word and His truth in question. Where in your life are you being tempted to doubt God's voice? Questions and doubts can be instruments that lead us to truth but they can also be a slippery slope into sin. We ought not rest in the slough of doubt for too long.
From questioning the serpent then moves to deceit: "You will surely not die...when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God." God said they would die, the serpent said they would not. God said sin would separate, the serpent said they would be like God. Every sin is based upon a lie.
Every sin starts with a question, finds life in a lie, and then destroys you when acted upon.
Racism is birthed from a lie about the superiority of races. Suicide begins with a lie that you are better off dead than alive, that God made a mistake making you. Abortion is justified based upon the lie that the unborn fetus is not a human person. Addiction starts with a lie that something will fulfill and satisfy you, if you only have a little more, and more, and more...
Do you know what this means?
That the battle for holiness, the conquering of sin, starts on the inside. It starts with addressing lies in our hearts and minds.This makes perfect sense when we look at the many Scriptures that address the heart and mind.
“You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
These are just to name a few. The strongholds that we are to wage war with as followers of Jesus are not physical, they are spiritual. We are in a battle of ideas, a battle for truth. Inception is a remarkable movie. In it, the protagonist named Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, seeks to place ideas in minds of certain people through "shared dreaming." This process is called "inception." Cobb says that the most resilient parasite is an idea,
"An idea. Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed - fully understood - that sticks; right in there somewhere."
Cobb says further,
"An idea is like a virus...and even the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you."
Ideas are powerful, and the difference between an idea that is true and an idea that is false can be the difference between the Holocaust and the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
We think that our thoughts don't matter.
But they do.
We are commanded to meditate or think upon things that are true, noble, just, and pure (Philippians 4:8). We are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:1-2). Jesus commanded that we clean the inside of our cup first, speaking of our hearts (Matthew 23:26). And His prayer for His followers was that they would be sanctified (made holy) in and by God's truth (John 17:17).
Lies kill. Truth gives life.
What lies are you believing? Lies, even the smallest untruths can destroy your life a little bit at a time.
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| Hirō Onoda, a Japanese soldier who continued fighting for 29 years after the war was over. |
He would not believe the pamphlets dropped from airplanes, the Japaneses newspapers left for him to find, or the Japanese dignitaries who marched through the jungle announcing on loudspeakers that the war was over. In his mind it was all a ruse. A tactic by the enemy seeking to persuade him to surrender.
He did not believe it until the Japanese government sent his previous commander who had been working in a bookstore for decades after the war and had him go into the jungle to tell him personally that the war was over.
What a waste of his life! Hirō, I am sure, spent every day of his life regretting the years he wasted because of a lie. He believed that Japan was still at war with the Allies. What lies are causing you to waste your life?
Do we play hours of video games a day or binge-watch Netflix thinking that it is worth the majority of our free time? Do we believe that some sin is not a big deal, that God was just kidding when he said that sin leads to death (James 1:15)? Do you believe that you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139) or do you think that you are worthless? Do you think that you are good enough to please God? Or have you embraced the truth that every day you fall short of the glory of God and our in desperate need of Jesus (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23).
Lies kill.
Fight them. Destroy the thoughts, ideas, and lies that set themselves up against the Word of God. Cling to the Way, the TRUTH, and the Life (John 14:6).
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