William Young writes in his novel, The Shack, "Lies are a little fortress; inside them you can feel safe and powerful. Through your little fortress of lies you try to run your life and manipulate others."
The lies that Young speaks of are the ones we tell ourselves about ourselves and have the audacity to believe. We believe so that we do not have to change something that really ought to change. For instance, I told myself for years that I had no control over my propensity for ogling women who were not my wife. This was not true and simply a way of rationalizing and therefore of not changing behavior hurtful to my marriage and to me personally. Certainly this reality stunted my ability to mature in Christ.
So...what do think? Are you adept like me at lying to yourself? What does this mean for our lives with Christ?
2 comments:
I have been learning and teaching on inner healing for a couple of years now. I am doing a SS class this summer on it. The lies we believe dictate our behavior and most often, the lies are so well hidden that we do not recognize them, even when confronted with our own odd behaviors.
I encourage you to read more on this topic and find a way to incorporate it in your church's teaching and internal ministries. It is one of the reasons we have such a balanced church in spite of so many wounded and immature believers. Amazing what God can do.
I found Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart to be a helpful book in this regard. Others have suggestions for my reading pleasure?
~ Jeff
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