Remove The Lies You Tell Yourself
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(1) Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (2) The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, (3) but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” (4) “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. (5) “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (6) When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.’ (Genesis 3:1-6)
I have come to a bit of truth recently; a realization that, as much as ‘Love God over All, and Love Others’ is the overarching Commandment that covers all other Commandments, the ‘lie’ is the overarching sin that covers all other sins. As much as ‘Love Yourself’ is a great testimony which allows us to accept the gift of Salvation, lying to yourself is the worst application that will lead to ruin and destruction. This is not necessarily about failing in achievement; having the confidence to perform a task but failing in it happens, and circumstances come into play that may have affected the outcome; it is not a failure of ability as much as failure came from outside influences beyond your control (starting a restaurant a month before the COVID lockdowns, for example).
The first sin was the lie, as written in Genesis 3. The serpent used deception to convince Eve, and then Adam, to lie to themselves that eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge (I think it was a pomegranate, hence why I won’t eat one). Their lie was to no one else but themselves; ‘God Said, But’. The lie that eating the fruit would be OK to God caused them to perform their second sin, disobeying God by actually eating the fruit.
The sins – the lies, as we read – cascaded down from there. The lie that they could hide from Jesus (God Manifested, walking through the Garden), and the lie that their nakedness was shameful in the sight of their Creator and now needed clothes (fig leaves). More lies then came; Adam lying about Eve pushing the fruit upon him, and Eve blaming the serpent for her own actions. These all were lies that Adam and Eve first told themselves, then told Jesus in an attempt to absolve their sins. What would have happened if only Adam and Eve both repented to Jesus openly and honestly on the spot, taking personal responsibility of their actions?
An example of ‘lying to yourself’ is the current transgender movement. To tell yourself, ‘I was born a man, but I feel I should be a female’, or ‘my little daughter plays with Tonka trucks and thus must be a boy inside’ are such lies. These are failures, not of ability but of common sense. The suicide rate is very high for transgenders, due directly or indirectly to the realization the lie they told themselves irrevocably changed them and made them into what they were not. This is the penultimate extreme of lying to one’s self.
The ultimate extreme of lying to one’s self is the one of ‘I’m a Christian, But’. There are many who state their status as a Christian, but then profess support for groups or causes that are antithetical to God’s Word and His desires. Supporting abortion, LGBTQ, transgenderism, restrictions upon free will, and even in some case the support of restricting certain Biblical teachings (‘don’t preach on Hell’) are many of the topics of the ‘Christian, But’ crowd. Be careful not to fall into this crowd of lying to yourself, but Love Yourself and more importantly Love your God, with all of your heart and soul, and the lies will be exposed for you to see clearly.
The act of repentance is the first act of ‘Loving God, Loving Yourself’, it is not only a declaration that you have sinned (which Adam and Eve did) but taking responsibility that you have sinned of your own accord (which Adam and Eve did not do). Removing the ‘lie to yourself’, that blames sin on something else, or that one is really ‘good’ despite evil acts performed, is done when someone confesses to Jesus, ‘I am a sinner’. After that, you can then tell yourself the Truth, that in order to properly ‘love yourself’ and ‘love others’ you must turn to the Lord and ‘Love Him’, by accept the Gift of Salvation and following Him and His Lordship.
To remove the lie is to return the love that is needed in today’s secular society, to turn away from sin and turn toward God. The cascading effect of sin has created much turmoil but if our nation repents the turmoil can stop. Pray for the Lord to provide those who are His people the strength and courage to do this first, so others will see Righteousness and in turn seek the Truth that they do not yet have.
