Break Free from Harmful Thoughts

Everyone Has Been Deceived

Jesus tells us in the Book of Revelation that the whole world has been deceived by Satan. For many years, I did not know I was deceived regarding who I really am and what life is really about. I focused mainly on fitting into the world’s way of thinking about success and what I needed to do to be considered valuable to other people. For that reason, I did not know how to satisfy the emptiness in my heart and the confusion I had regarding my purpose. I found myself in less than satisfying personal relationships, either over-utilized or under-utilized on jobs, caught in numbing routines, and in constant battles with self-image. On the outside, I was successful, intelligent and able to perform and produce most of the results my employers, colleagues, and friends expected of me. Inside I was lost and wondered if anyone really saw me – the real me. I thought that people and things could fill the void in my heart that only God could fill. It isn’t easy to realize and acknowledge your limiting beliefs on your own unless something happens that forces you to perceive your situation differently. Usually the disruption will penetrate the foundation of what you have been believing about yourself, another person, or something that is important to you. ~~~~~~~ Cathy was a beautiful woman who grew up with a single mom who worked as a corporate executive in an advertising firm. Cathy always wore designer clothes and gorgeous shoes. She has driven a Mercedes since she was sixteen and never went without the latest gadgets or next best thing. She always wondered about her father and longed to meet him some day. Her mother never talked about her father and Cathy didn’t even know his name. Being an attractive brunette with a tall slender frame, she did not lack male attention. Cathy was attracted to men and she was more comfortable with them than with most women. She was trying to fill the fatherless void in her life. Therefore, her definition of a boyfriend was somewhat contorted. Anyone who took her out on more than one date and was nice to her was classified as her boyfriend. Sometimes she would have several of these boyfriends at one time which caused her to be confused over which one she should date. One of her so called boyfriends began paying more attention to her than the others. He showered her with gifts and took her on long weekend trips. Cathy fell in love with this guy and she began to adjust her life around him. It was after she had fallen passionately in love with him that he began to distance himself from her. Of course, this caused her to cling even more. Once he disappeared for several weeks. When Cathy had not heard from him, she became anxious and afraid of being alone. All she ever talked about was her boyfriend. When he finally surfaced again, he apologize for being away. He gave her an excuse along with two dozen long stem red roses and a diamond bracelet. Cathy was in heaven again. On the evening he returned from wherever he had been, he took Cathy for a walk on the waterfront. As they walked along the river watching the sunset, someone was coming towards them dressed in all black. It was hard to tell if the person was male or female. By the time Cathy realized the person was directly in front of them, a gun went off several times. Bullets entered her friend and he fell dead only a few feet away from her. The shooter stared at Cathy for a few seconds which felt like hours to her then walked away. Cathy was in shock for several weeks. When she was released from the hospital, she was never an easy target for a man again. It’s been several years since she experienced her boyfriend being shot in front of her by his wife. Cathy learned to not give all of herself away to a man. She learned how to keep a core part of herself protected from people and saved only for communion with God which would keep her grounded and help her maintain proper perspective. ~~~~~~~ Now if someone else had experienced this type of tragedy, she might not have changed the same way Cathy did. However, Cathy’s experience shook the foundation of who she was being with men. She realized that she was deceiving herself and there were possible dangers attached to her deception. Self-deception is the worst kind of deception. It is when you deny or rationalize away relevant or logical evidence to prove or disprove something or someone. Sometimes our intuition lets us know that something is wrong and we ignore that feeling only to later learn that our intuition was correct. I believe God gives us intuition to guide us away from danger and to lead us towards goodness. Everyone experiences various forms of deception every day. For example, when you watch a 30-minute television sitcom, have you noticed how some characters might live in great homes, wear designer clothes and they either never go to work or the jobs they do have could never support their lifestyles? We watch the news which is unfortunately mostly negative reporting or it is based on other people’s opinions or based on information from social media. We look at air bushed models on the cover of a magazine and we work to look like them. We listen to gossip and rumors and repeat what we hear about other people. We pretend to love people we really don’t like to get what we want in life. We send our kids to schools where they are taught beliefs opposite of our faith then we wonder why they are speaking and acting inappropriately.