In class on Sunday we talk about Jerimiah 17:9 ”The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” We talked about how we can lie to others and ourselves. The interesting thing is that when we lie to others, they know we are lying. But when we lie to ourselves, we convince ourselves that it is not a lie. Let me give you a few examples: I was talking to a youth minister friend and wanting to get the youth group things they need. One thing that I said they needed was a Wii. My friend looked at me and said, do you really think the youth group needs a Wii. I had to respond no, because the youth group doesn’t need a Wii. I just want one. I wanted a Wii, but so I didn’t sound conceited I came up with this lie that I was telling others, but it wasn’t the real reason.
Here is another example from the lesson. A man is spending a lot of time with this woman who is not his wife. He friend asks him why he is spending so much time with that woman. He answers, she needs a friend. Oh? His friend says well what about Bertha, she needs a friend. The man was telling himself and others a lie that he knew wasn’t true, but he convinced himself that it was true. He wasn’t spending time with her because she needs a friend and everyone knew it. And deep down so did he.
Jeremiah 17 tells us that our heart is deceitful. We don’t want to tell people the real reason we do things. The reason “because I want to” just doesn’t fly anymore since we are not kids. So we reach into our excuse box and pull out something that sounds good. It really doesn’t sound good, but we use it anyway. We are lying to ourselves and we know it, but we continue because we want to.
It’s as simple as that. We don’t want to tell people that because we sound selfish or greedy. So we come up with some reason that really doesn’t apply to make ourselves feel better. Its time we stop lying to ourselves and start living as God would want you to.
