Self-Deception

“All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord,” (Proverbs 16:2, ESV).

I’m sure that O.J. Simpson has actually convinced himself that he didn’t kill Nicole. No doubt, there is a former president who said so many times that he really didn’t think he had sex with “that woman,” that he actually convinced himself it was true.

Richard Milhous Nixon probably went to his grave believing that Watergate was nothing more than a Motel in Washington DC, and Saddam Hussein probably talked himself into believing that all his victims deserved their fate because he, and only he, was good for his country.

Like those Kitkat bars, we give ourselves a break on the most astonishing things.

A man cheats on his wife, convincing himself that God “wants me to be happy,” and of course his happiness depends on his continued relationship with his mistress.

An embezzler recalls his years of faithful service to his corporation and says he’s “earned” this money. A gossip assures himself that what he has just repeated is “really the truth,” and “I would say it to his face if he was in front of me right now.”

Like Pharaoh, we become kings of … Denial! But we don’t fool our friends, we don’t fool our kids, and we don’t fool God. We fool ourselves and ourselves alone.

God weighs motives. Though we may be “pure in our own eyes,” though we may be blinded by our excuses and selfishness, the Lord sees us for who we really are.

In the end, the saddest, and most effective form of deception is self-deception!

by Stan Mitchell @ www.forthright.net