October 28, 2009
"Seek the Truth"
Dear Friend,
The problem of self-deception affects every human life. This self-deception causes less damage when we become aware of it. It causes the most damage when we deny that we are self-deceiving. I am aware of three types of self-deception in my own soul.
- Spiritual Self-deception – When I am doing the things I ought, I tend to deceive myself and believe I am better than I really am. And when I am not doing what I believe I should do, I believe I am worse than I really am. The nature of this spiritual self-deception is a myth of behaviorism.
Emotional Self-deception – When I blame emotional feelings like anger, sadness and isolation on those around me, I deceive myself. My emotions belong to me and I choose which ones I will permit to define me.
- People Self-deception – Psychologists created a term for this called “The Fundamental Attribution Error” because we as humans commonly deceive ourselves about the character and attitudes of the people around us.
Graciously, each of these self-deceptions has a single cure: Truth. The Scriptures speak the truth, and teach us that God values our souls more than our behaviors. Self-awareness teaches the truth that I have the God-given ability to control and change my emotional responses. And psychology teaches the truth that it is good for us not to “judge a book by its cover” and to give the people we meet a fair chance.
Remember our Lord Jesus said, “The truth sets us free.” May you seek the truth as the vaccination against the human disease of self-deception.
Doc
Dr. Dave Collings
Lead Pastor
Christ Church
