"Be Careful of Lies"

God's word warns us, "...because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." (II Thes. 2:10-12) It is hard for many to accept that God will send a delusion to believe in a lie. Why would a holy and righteous God do such? Because people want to believe in lies rather than the truth! God gives people what they want! I cannot stress enough the seriousness of seeking and following the truth rather than someones idea or feeling. God is a God of truth and righteousness. If one accepts something as truth that is not truth, they will be deluded and live a lie.

False: "One cannot learn to love others until they learn to love themselves!" How many times have we heard this? I hear people in Christ speak this statement (or similar versions of it) in bible studies. Where did such come from? Not from the Lord! Jesus taught, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." (Matt. 16:24) Jesus said self denial was the starting point to following Him, not loving yourself. The love of self is where our problems come in. Paul told Timothy that difficult times were going to come and one the of trademarks of the difficulties was "lovers of self." (II Tim. 3:2) It is very gratifying to follow self, to love self but it is not the Lord's way.

False: "The Lord helps those who help themselves." I recently had a member of Christ's body tell me that they believe in this with all their heart. The Lord helps those who trust in Him and not lean on their own understanding! (Prov. 3:5) Helping "self" is what got Peter into trouble. Helping "self" is what got Judas into great problems. We must follow the Lord and what He expects from us but that is not helping ourselves. Paul spoke that he was "burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead." (II Cor. 1:8-9) When one helps themselves, they trust in what they do first and then look to the Lord. When one trusts in the Lord, they listen and follow His instructions. There is a major difference.

We need to be careful of the philosophies that many quote and follow in their lives. So many sound good and promising but upon close examination, they are nothing but lies dressed up in godly-looking clothes! Be careful of lies...delusion is waiting to take hold.