Deceiving the holy

Something that I have been thinking about for some time as I have observed the world around me, listen to the radio, watched TV, sat in church services and talked with people is that a great many of us have been deceived.  This deception has not come from Washington D.C. or Hollywood, though they have both helped it along.  The symptoms of the deceit manifest themselves in fear, doubt, anger, stress, anxiety and worry among other things.  I have seen these symptoms in myself in in others around me.  It seems to me that many have partially or fully believed a lie that hits at the very heart of our purpose. And why we are here.

Initially it might be thought that this deception has indeed come from the outside, but I am wondering if the real attack is from within.  Make no mistake we have a cunning enemy who has made long practice of his craft.  Satan is subtle in his Art and will use the very words of God to his advantage if he may (see Matthew 4:1-11).  He masquerades as an angel of light (II Cor 11:14).  And so it is he has infiltrated even into The Church twisting truth to discourage and hinder the saints.  

What is this deception?  We have bought into lies about our purpose, what it means to be blessed and what is good. We have taken "blessing" to mean material wealth, success and so on, what is "good"  to be based on the fulfillment of personal desire, and our purpose to be very self centered.

One cause of this is that we have been given, through many outlets, snippets of scripture written ever so elegantly and well framed to hang on our walls, but completely without context or reference, such as Jeremiah 29:11.  You are likely familiar with it.  "'For I know the plans I have for you' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"  Wonderful words of encouragement.  Yet one must take into account this was written to a people utterly devastated by the loss of their home, the destruction of the temple, the central focus point in their faith, a people in exile.  Who had been told earlier in the same chapter to, in essence, get comfortable you are going to be hear a while.  Jeremiah 29:11 is certainly true, but one must see it within the purpose it was written.  There are others of course but you get the idea.

Because of this lie we have developed the ridiculous notion that "If I follow God, Tithe, go to church, serve and so on, then God will grant me material wealth and success personally and professionally.  Because doing these things leads to blessing, and blessing is granting me the things I want, which is good right?  What about Luke 6:20 "Blessed are the poor, for your is the kingdom of God."  And do you know this?  Almost every time, if not every time the scriptures talk about trials or suffering it says when you face these things (James 1:2; Matthew 13:21)  As my pastor has said "Paul never faced persecution or the threat of jail or death until began professing Christ."  Jesus himself said "if they persecuted me, they will persecute you also (John 15:20)."  So how can we have the notion that following God equates to earthly success and wealth?

This is cause much stress and even crises of faith.  Think, if following God means that I will be blessed as it has been defined about, and someone who follows God experiences financial, social, professional, or relational hardships then either God's promises are not true or I am not doing what I should be.  We see the later in Job.  But the reality is that there isn't a causal relationship between what you do and what you get.  THANKS BE TO GOD!  For we who are his children have been given grace through Christ which we didn't deserve. 

These lies are are used by Satan in order to discourage and distract the saints and render them ineffective for God's kingdom.  On top of all this we have all the bovine scatology that the world throws at us.  Like, you must drive this car, have this house, this life, this investment portfolio, this career, this body and on and on in order to be "successful."  So we are being attacked from both ends.  On the one hand lies have crept into the very essential perspective we should have about ourselves and our purpose.  On the other hand the world is trying to push a purpose on us that we are not meant for.  We are Not here to consume and enjoy as the world would have us believe.  We are here to Love God, live lives according to His calling and Love others.  This is not to say that wealth in itself is bad nor success or any other form of it.  But when these things become idols to us, then the curses and warnings from the prophets will fall on us.  And we wonder why this country is tearing itself apart...