Are We So Easily Fooled?

I did a google search a few days ago, “Find your truth.” Frankly, I have never heard anything so ridiculous, and yet it’s widely embraced because of its appeal. I imagine kittens and soft blankets and flowers as I read the titles that came up in my search.

“Wait, I can decide what ‘works for me’ and embrace it as my truth? I like the sound of that. Answer to no one or no standard that I haven’t set for myself? Sign me up!”

I’ll give you a simple example of why deciding my truth doesn’t ever work for me.

My truth at 7 AM: I have to get into a good healthy routine with my physical fitness and diet! I MUST start today to really do a good thing for myself – to break free of all of that toxic food I’ve been eating. I have a responsibility to my family and to myself to be healthy.

My truth at 4 PM: I worked hard all day. I’m not perfect. I never claimed to be. I love blizzards – cotton candy blizzards! I earned one with all the challenges I faced today. I dodged bullets left and right. The only proper way to celebrate is a blizzard, and I deserve it.  

Sounds silly, right? But I bet you chuckled because you’ve done something like that – oscillating back and forth between viewpoints. And with equal passion.  

I can’t trust myself. I need the TRUTH in every corner of my life to mold and shape me. I cannot be left to myself. 

Sadly, the idea of “finding our own truth” is happening at every level in our society.

Someone once said, “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” Buying into “finding our own truth” is one such pitfall.

Stop and let that sink in. Do you care? Would you want to know if you’ve been fooled? Or would you instead want to choose your “own truth” and decide for yourself? 

I noticed in the simple search I mentioned the reference to tarot cards and other forms of divination. That doesn’t surprise me. Let’s throw in a little help from the spirit world to help you establish your truth. The Bible warns against these practices. These have long been characterized as tools of the devil. Forgive me for sounding old fashioned. But Jesus described satan this way:

He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. John 8:44b-45

What do you make of this? 

Jesus is telling us the truth about satan, and yet He knows His audience refuses to believe. Notice the last sentence – “But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.”

I hate being lied to. And yet, at times in my life, I’ve even lied to myself.   

After too many mistakes and self-inflicted wounds, I’ve learned not to look within. Truth does not come from within us. We are not the deciders of truth. Yet if you google it, you’ll find a mountain of nicely-packaged lies to buy into. 

And while I’m at it…why do we need “fact-checkers” (who do such a bang-up job of being unbias) if truth is relative? I digress.

If we ignore the truth of God’s Word, if we say God’s Word is not the ultimate truth, if we continue to pursue our own truth – which inevitably makes someone else’s truth somewhere a lie, what happens to us

In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthians 4:4

If we ignore the truth, we are doomed. 

But I have good news. 

In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

He also says in John 8:31-32, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 

How do we know the truth? What does Jesus say? Believe Him. Abide in His Word. Abide means: to live there, set up lodging, dwell.

We are to dwell in the Word of God. Are you in the Word? Need help to get started? I’d love to help! Please e-mail me at tammy@tammyontuesday.com.

Brothers and sisters, I urge you to pray and ask the Lord to reveal truth to your heart in this time of turmoil and confusion. I know, for myself, I sometimes begin to entertain a lie in my thoughts and emotions, and if I’m not careful to ask the Lord to speak truth to me daily from His Word, these lies can easily go undetected and spiral out of control. Start today by asking God to reveal to you any lies you have embraced – anything that keeps you from the truth. Confess them. Ask Him to break any chains of deceit that have you bound. And begin being a diligent pursuer of truth.

It will truly set you free. Satan is out to destroy and lie to those who will listen. But we can take refuge today in Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life.

From the end of the earth, I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Psalm 61:2-3