The Danger of Self Deceit

I want to be more like Jesus. I really do. However, I also have a propensity - and I'll bet you do too - for self deceit. That's why I need the revelation Holy Spirit gives us, and a band of brothers and sisters who love me enough to help not get stuck in self deceit.

I came across the following quote on self deceit in a book I was reading recently. While it is specifically addressing sin and self deceit, it could also be speaking about our ability to ignore and deceive ourselves about the wounds of our past that are still influencing are present in unhelpful ways. What do you think of the following quote?

"Self-deceit is the unwillingness, even the inability, to face our own evil (or woundedness), and if we do face it, we can't accept the real reasons for it. Instead, we have a large repertoire of lies to tell ourselves to ease our consciences, to save face, to explain away...And here's the funny thing: The more sophisticated and educated we are, usually the more gullible we are. Solomon was reputedly the most knowledgeable man on earth. Perhaps because of that, not in spite of it, he was the most prone to self-deception...An educated liar, after all, has all the vast, complex repository of psychology and sociology to draw upon for his lying.

Like shyster lawyers, we can nimbly evade the bone-stark truth with a flurry of qualifications, technical maneuvers, semantic quibbles, procedural rigmarole, logic chopping, hair-splitting, murky jargon, fluff rhetoric, dodges, delays, diversions, revisions, aspersions. We pride ourselves on being able to see through every con man and pitchman, every quack and demagogue. We laugh derisively at the simple fools who fall prey to charlatans. We scoff at those who pay exorbitant sums for potions that promise to cure baldness (hey, that's hitting too close to home!), revive flagging energies, turn luck around. Laughing and scoffing at the fools, we meanwhile tell ourselves that sin (and woundedness) is something other than sin (and woundedness)."


Lord, please do not leave me, and my brothers and sisters, in bondage to self deceit. We have been called by you to be leaders for Your people and we know that our bondage to sin and captivity to old, unhealed wounds will eventually come out sideways on those we've been called to love and serve. Come Holy Spirit, through God's word, through spiritual gifts, through prayer and counseling, and through our band of brothers and sisters to set us free and make us more like Jesus. Amen!