Fooling You?

Happy Sunday!

"Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like."(James 1:22, Message).

The King James Version of this same scripture says, "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."(KJV).   Don't miss this!  It is possible to deceive yourself.  I know, I know it sounds preposterous!  Why would you want to lie to yourself?  Aren't there enough lies and liars in the world already? 

Earlier in the week, the Holy Spirit led me to Revelation 21:8.  In the previous scriptures Jesus declares that He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.  Then he declares the those that overcome will be His sons, and He will be their God.  Then he gets to verse 8 and begins to paint a picture of those who do not overcome.  He says, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."(KJV).  Not a happy description to say the least.  I noticed that he specified "ALL Liars".  He didn't do that to the other words.  Makes you wonder why he wanted to ensure we know that all liars are doomed.

Proverbs 6:16-19 gives some insight into how God feels about telling lies.  "The Lord HATES these seven things: eyes that show pride, tongues that tell LIES, hands that kill innocent people, hearts that plan evil things to do, feet that run to do evil, witnesses in court who tell LIES, and anyone who causes family members to fight."(Easy-to-Read Version).  The religious leaders were bent on killing Jesus, and he told them, "For you are the children of your father the devil and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning and a hater of truth—there is not an iota of truth in him. When he lies, it is perfectly normal; for he is the father of liars."(John 8:44, Living Bible).

Let's not forget Ananias and Sapphira.  Acts 5: 1-7 says, "Once a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira fully cooperating, committed fraud. He sold some property and kept some of the proceeds, but he pretended to make a full donation to the Lord’s emissaries. Peter: Ananias, have you allowed Satan to influence your LIES to the Holy Spirit and hold back some of the money? Look, it was your property before you sold it, and the money was all yours after you sold it. Why have you concocted this scheme in your heart? You weren’t just lying to us; you were lying to God.  Ananias heard these words and immediately dropped to the ground, dead; fear overcame all those who heard of the incident.  Some young men came, wrapped the body, and buried it immediately. About three hours had passed when Sapphira arrived. She had no idea what had happened."(Voice).

Don't miss this!  God loves a cheerful giver.(2 Corinthians 9:7).  It was his property, and his money.  Ananias didn't have to give it.  But he wanted to be recognized for his big giving.  Jesus warned us about this, "“Be careful! When you do something good, don’t do it in front of others so that they will see you. If you do that, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven."(Matthew 6:1, Easy-to-Read Version).

You know times have changed because it wouldn't have taken 3 minutes for people in the crowd to upload the video of Ananias dropping dead to Instagram.  But the scripture says, 3 hours later Sapphira made it to church.  Not knowing what had happened to her husband, she lied too, dropped dead, and was carried out.  Moral of the story..." What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself"(Ephesians 4:25, Message).

Don't lie to anyone, especially yourself.  Michael Jackson sang about talking to the man in the mirror and asking him to change his ways.  Dr. Fred Price said, "Whatever you are anywhere, you should be everywhere".  I encourage you to speak the Word, and always speak the Truth.

Love and prayers, Cynthia