Deception...Lies...and Truth

Intro: Today, I will be discussing deception…and how we have all been deceived by this world…and how it is our responsibility as Christians to look at these deceptions…to study them…and to adjust our perspective in order to see the evil and/or good in the things of this world.

The "meat": Last night at Teen Community Bible Study, the speaker discussed not letting ourselves be deceived...and to get across his point, he used a bunch of optical illusions - where you can see two very different pictures by looking at the exact same image. Here are some examples:

Is this platform the top or the bottom?

Is this a skull or a woman looking into a mirror?

Is this an old woman or a youth woman? (hint - the bump on the left is a wart on the nose of the old woman while it is the nose of the young woman who is looking away)

He then posed a question to the crowd: "How did you see the other picture in the image?" And some of the answers included using a different perspective, studying it, etc. I was so impressed by this example…It is a great way to show us how we could be deceived in life, and how two very different perspectives can be derived out of looking at the same thing...it makes so much sense to me…and it reminds me of how, when we are Christians, we are to look at this world...to study it...and to look at it through different perspectives in order to truly see the good and evil in the things of this world.

There are so many things in our lives that we can just look at and allow to happen because we don't see the 'major' harm in it, we don't see that other perspective of the image…we allow our friends (and ourselves) to swear, to use the Lord's name in vain, to drink underage, to excessively drink, to use drugs (even if it is only rarely), to laugh off a friend going to a party and kissing someone he or she doesn't even know, etc - this list could go on forever. At some point, ourselves, as well as our friends, have been deceived by this world - we have decided that it is ok to do "little sins" because they are not as bad as the "big" ones like murder and adultery. We have been deceived to think that physical love is true love or that the only real love we will receive is what we can get from others. Some have been deceived to think that image and appearances matter so much that they must practically mutilate themselves in order to remain at a dangerously low weight or in order to gain perfectly sculpted muscles.

So many deceptions, so many lies, so much pain and suffering. Just imagine what new perspectives you could gain in your own life by re-examining and re-studying the world around you…take some time during your daily activities to step back and gain a different perspective. Try to look at the world through God's loving eyes and see if you can find some new ideas…ideas that may surprise you. Maybe you'll realize that some of your actions and some of your silence has only been encouraging bad things…and maybe you'll see that some of your actions have been having more of a positive affect than you originally realized.

Last night, after I returned home from Teen CBS, I happened upon the book of Ezekiel…and as I started reading…it reminded me of how we are responsible for those around us. I'm not saying that it is a good idea to go around judging people and telling them what they do wrong…but maybe it's time to start encouraging those around us to make better decisions and to positively lift them up so that they may receive the same blessings, and maybe it's also time for us to ask someone else to hold us responsible for our own actions as well.

Here is some of the passage from Ezekiel that I read last night:
"After seven days the Lord gave me a message. He said, "Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from me, warn people immediately. If I warn the wicked, saying, 'You are under the penalty of death,' but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible for their deaths. If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep on sinning, they will die in their sins. But you will have saved yourself because you obeyed me.
If righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and ignore the obstacles I put in their way, they will die. And if you do not warn them, they will die in their sins. None of their righteous acts will be remembered, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. But if you warn righteous people not to sin and they listen to you and do not sin, they will live, and you will have saved yourself, too." (Ezekiel 3:16-21)