Deceived

I can't believe it's been a month since I jotted anything down. Anyway, on with the thought...

Last night we continued our teaching through 1 Corinthians 3 (available for download at www.river-stone.org), and the focus was on what destroys the church. The most profound thing I can't stop thinking about from this is how deceived we really are.

Anyone who's watched and of the audtion episodes of American Idol has witnessed self-deception at it's finest. Loads and loads of people who obviously have no talent, really think they can sing. They think the judges are wrong. They think millions of viewers are wrong. They completely ignore what is a black and white reality in lieu of their opinion of themselves.

The reality is that our opinion of ourselves can not be trusted. We deceive ourselves. What we see in the mirror isn't what other people see. How we think of ourselves is not how other people think of ourselves. We often think we're better or worse than we really are. We define our own reality based on our perceptions, and that's a flaw of our humanity. We need to surround ourselves with others who help us see more clearly who we are. Our friends see us for who we really are - for the good and bad. Accountability is what we need to more accurately see who we really are.

I often times consider myself to be fairly self-aware. I know what I'm good at, I know what I'm bad at, I know what I can pull off and appear to be good at. However, at any moment, I could find myself thinking more highly of myself than I ought. I could find myself not having people in my life that help keep my reality defined. I could believe what I want regardless of what everyone else says. I could very easily find myself deceived.

We need to be aware that we are deceived people in need of honest friends to walk with us in our journey of faith in order to keep us more in tune with the reality of Jesus. Only when we look at ourselves through his eyes do we see as we ought to see. May we be honest with ourselves and surround ourselves with godly people who love us enough to help us determine who we really are.

If you're certain that you're not deceived, you are. If you know you're deceived, then you're in the best place for discovering reality. Regardless of how you see yourself, this week you should ask someone you trust for an honest evaluation of who you really are. Does anybody remember "The Emperor's New Clothes"? Wouldn't you rather know? Ask someone. You don't have to be deceived.