Deception the Kingdom of God and You

Deception the Kingdom of God and You

We might not be able to live long on the earth and avoid being deceived and deceiving someone else.  When this happens relationships can suffer, trust can be damaged and hope destroyed.  In the best of situations relationships struggle to be rebuilt.  In the worst of times people just quit on one another.

Deception comes in several forms.

1. The person that lies or intentionally misleads with information.
2. The person that leaves out information to mislead, not sharing or revealing enough information to give an accurate picture.  Allowing someone to come to their own conclusions can be as devious as intentionally lying to them.
3. The person who finds emotional, situational or cultural buttons to push along with the information.  These buttons turn on bias that the person sharing is counting on to sway, persuade or influence. Often this includes statements like "Someone said" where the "someone" is influential in the other persons life.

In the Kingdom of God we face many times of deception and misuse of people.  I am amazed at how honest the Bible is.  The Saints, at times, seem anything but and we can be encouraged to live beyond our mistakes and sins by looking at them. Beyond the issues of the way we treat one another is the issue of being deceived about the Faith, about God and about the Kingdom of God.  It may be possible to be trained by the "little and painful" deception we inflict on one another so that we are trained for the "eternal" deception that Satan and the fallen world is seeking to have us stumble under.  Below is a few New Testament passages on deception.  I was struck by 1 Cor 3:18 and the call not to deceive myself.

Rom 16:18  For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
1Co 3:18    Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.
Eph 5:6      Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
2Th 2:3      Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
1Jn 2:26    These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.
Rev 20:3    and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
Rev 20:8    and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.

My Goal is pointing out deception is to get us to walk with God and like God.  So let me push on to some responses that we may have.  Use the small stuff to build up yourself in Christ Jesus and allow yourself to authentically abide in Him.  That abiding will bear much fruit.

1. When Jesus was betrayed by Peter, Jesus could have felt as though Peter was a deceiver.   Jesus could feel like Peter just pretended to be a follower and that Jesus was tricked.  In this situation Jesus gave less care to His own feelings and cared for Peter.  Caring for others is a way beyond our own responses and require us to have hope for others and in the Lord.
2. Judas betrayed Jesus and returned to do so with a kiss. Jesus treated Judas with respect and authentic friendship.  In the face of being deceived don't let the situation become who you are.  Press yourself not to justify natural living.  Press into the Lord for Christlike actions that honor others even in the face of rejection, pain and suffering.  Don't build your life on being a "good person" be a Christ like person.
3. Jacob deceived his dad and brother and lived a life of deception for some time.  In the coarse of time He was transformed by an encounter with God and his life was a part of God's plan for mankind.  We may judge that only certain types of people, only good moral people, only passionate radical people; can be used by God.  That judgement is not right.  We in the church might not teach on God's ability and history of using "not so good people" because we are afraid that people will not press onto holiness.  Fear is not a good motivation and at best is only the beginning of wisdom.  All of us should desire enough of the Lord so that we can always see others with hope, remembering no wrong suffered, holding on to the good, patiently and with kindness.

 I want to encourage you in the use of deception in your life.  Use it to become skillful in following the Lord and knowing His ways.  This is more than just knowing the truth, but it is knowing how the truth is expressed to self and others in the face of deception.  During His temptation in the wilderness by Satan, Jesus used the "word" to respond to the attack.  We too can use the word.  We also need spiritual wisdom to know when no response is the right response.  Arguments with demons and others seldom is productive for the Kingdom. 

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.

(Eph 4:25-27)