Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Wednesday, 02 April 2025 08:54

Let No Man Deceive Himself
by Joey Carroll Corinth Missionary Baptist Church

Deception began very early in the history of all things. It was in the garden that the serpent deceived or lied to Eve, and she ate. But we know Eve was not innocent in the matter. She certainly had the time to consider the issue at hand. She had time to recall the command that had been given to her husband from God Himself. She was certainly not force fed that fateful fruit. She willingly put forth her hand and disobeyed God.
How many times have we been deceived into thinking that something would satisfy the soul, only to find later that it had caused so much disappointment and harm? Now, we know that we have an enemy whose mission is to deceive. In fact, the Lord Jesus refers to our enemy as the “father of lies” (John 8:44), and he diligently works to mislead our minds and hearts away from God. This is the same God who created the heavens and the earth, who made us in His very image, who loves us and rescues us through the work of His Son, and who is known as the God of love (1 John 4:8) and the God of the truth (John 14:6).

It should be a rather easy thing to take this great God of ours at His Word. We do, after all, have before us the history of mankind written down in the Bible. And what we find as we read is the fact that our God has never failed to be good and faithful. He has never failed in His wisdom and understanding. And He has never failed to communicate truth to His people. And yet we continue to struggle so much to hear. Is our enemy really that clever, or are we really that foolish, stubborn, and unwilling to hear our God speak?

The prophet Moses warned the people of Israel in his last few sermons not to be deceived as they were about to go into the promised land. Moses reminded Israel of all God had done for them in the past and what He had promised to do for them in the future. And then he said to them, “Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them,” (Deuteronomy 11:16, NASB). Unfortunately, Israel did not listen, and they soon were deceived by the false gods of the nations around them. They turned away from the living God and bowed down to idols of wood and stone.

As we continue in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, we hear the Apostle Paul say familiar words, but he gives us a little more to consider. In the garden, the enemy deceived the people of God. In the promised land, the nations deceived the people of God. But Paul says at Corinth, “Let no man deceive himself,” (1 Corinthians 3;18, NASB). How is it that we could be so foolish as to deceive ourselves?

As fallen human beings, we are absolutely convinced that our personal thinking is right and best. We gather information from the people and experiences around us. We listen to our hearts and our feelings, check social media, and then arrive concretely at our opinions about matters. All kinds of matters — from the things of God and the next life, to the things of man and this life. You could move a mountain off its foundations sooner than you could change a man’s mind.

However, the Christian should realize how easily we are deceived, and that most often we deceive ourselves.
Immediately following Paul’s warning about deceiving ourselves he writes, “If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise,” (1 Corinthians 3:18, NASB). As it turns out, the safest way to avoid self-deception is through humility and self-denial. We are not God. We did not create life, marriage, family, or even the church. In fact, we did not create anything. But we, as Christians, know well who did. It is a humbling thing to come to the reality that in and of ourselves we know nothing. But when we do and begin to turn to God, we begin to understand that He truly does know all things, and we would do well to listen.