Deceiving Your Own Heart

 There are all kinds of scam going around today. They are schemes to deceive people, so others can take their money or get their personal information to get credit cards or loans in their name. It is a terrible thing to be deceived by another person for whatever reason. However, it is even worse to be deceived by our own heart. Self-deception is very prevalent, though. We are all susceptible to it, so we must be aware. 

The Bible gives us a warning about self deception as it pertains to being religious. (James 1:26) If we think we are religious in the good sense of the word, but we do not bridle our tongue, we are deceiving our own heart. When we do that, we show that our religion is worthless. I believe this is a good self test for all of us to take.

Usually, we use the word religious to mean a person who does the rituals of religion without having a relationship with Jesus. That is not what James means here. He means that if we think we are right with God, but we do not bridle our tongue, that shows that we are not right with God, at all. The reason for this is that our tongue speaks what is in our heart. A right heart will not be speaking the wrong things consistently.

This could include lying, cursing, or speaking badly about others. It is true that no one can tame the tongue, but God can and will give us the power to control our tongue as we trust Him and follow the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if we notice a problem with an unbridled tongue, and we can't trust the Lord to control it, we must not be right with God. Then, we need to make sure we are saved, and/or we need to confess our sins and allow the Spirit to empower us to control our tongue.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read James 3-5.