Subtle Lies
Subtle Lies
The Evil One can be patient. He will take years to retrain the thinking of a whole culture in order to establish lies that cut at the heart of who we are in Christ. His lies are often built on several wrong presuppositions. His plan is to move us away from Scripture, divide us, and keep us from hearing the truth. One such lie, that is prevalent today, is built upon many years of moving our culture away from the Word of God. The strategy, though, is as old as the Garden of Eden. When Satan offered Eve the fruit, what he really offered her was “autonomous wisdom”. The chance to be able to decide, for yourself, what is wise apart from God. You get to choose. In our culture, Satan has, once again, built that same mentality. One of the subtle results of those lies is what many Christians have bought into. We say things like, “My opinion matters” or “All opinions are equal”. When we buy into that lie, then all ideas, thoughts, and personal wisdom become valid. It is true that all people matter and that all people have value because of being made in the image of God. But opinions are not people. You may matter and your opinion may be nothing more than foolishness. That truth, that your opinion is foolishness, does not diminish your value as a human being but it does diminish the value of your opinion. James 1 tells me that I should be “quick to listen and slow to speak” but it does not tell me that I should not evaluate your opinion against the Word of God and natural truth.
I am happy to hear your opinion. I will listen and seek to learn about you and what you are saying. If I am truly listening, then I am seeking to learn and grow with you. But that does not mean that I must accept or validate all that your saying. I will defend your right to say it, but will not blindly believe that what you are saying is truth just because you say it.
Paul says it this way in Rom 14. “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another”. He is speaking of the truth that we are servants of Jesus and he is our master. Who am I to judge others, to express my opinion as truth, on those who answer only to Jesus. Please do not miss one of the most important points. One that we have truly forgotten as a culture. “Who are you”? In reality, in the scope of all of culture, in light of the truth of your flaws and your limitations, who are you to believe that all that you say is truth? There is no truth for one individual. Truth is truth for everyone. You may think, “It is my truth. I believe that I am a bear”. You may believe you are a bear but that does not make it truth. Who are you to change truth? God is the arbitrator and creator of truth. In reality, it is only God’s opinion that matters.
This lie, that all of our opinions are equal and that they matter, places us at the apex of our universe. It is a position that we have not been created or equipped to hold. So, due to that fact alone, that we do not have the ability to hold that position, we make a mess of our lives. We fight with people as we seek their affirmation of what we alone believe. We create chaos where ever we go because we demand that people bow to our ideas and opinions. We become islands to ourselves because we believe no one does things right and no one truly cares about us.
The major weakness or flaw with that kind of thinking is that we all crave the approval and love of others. We are not built to be islands and so we see the approval of others. God tells us that true love thinks of others. True love seeks what is best for others. When we spend all of our energy demanding that our opinions be validated as truth, we cease making life about others and we force others to make life about us. We push away our spouses, our children, our families, and any friends we thought we had.
Maybe it is time for us to ask ourselves the question Paul poses, “Who are you?”. We are not God. Hold strong opinions but be humble enough to realize that not all your opinions are most important. Be humble enough to believe that you matter but your opinion is just that...an opinion.
The Evil One can be patient. He will take years to retrain the thinking of a whole culture in order to establish lies that cut at the heart of who we are in Christ. His lies are often built on several wrong presuppositions. His plan is to move us away from Scripture, divide us, and keep us from hearing the truth. One such lie, that is prevalent today, is built upon many years of moving our culture away from the Word of God. The strategy, though, is as old as the Garden of Eden. When Satan offered Eve the fruit, what he really offered her was “autonomous wisdom”. The chance to be able to decide, for yourself, what is wise apart from God. You get to choose. In our culture, Satan has, once again, built that same mentality. One of the subtle results of those lies is what many Christians have bought into. We say things like, “My opinion matters” or “All opinions are equal”. When we buy into that lie, then all ideas, thoughts, and personal wisdom become valid. It is true that all people matter and that all people have value because of being made in the image of God. But opinions are not people. You may matter and your opinion may be nothing more than foolishness. That truth, that your opinion is foolishness, does not diminish your value as a human being but it does diminish the value of your opinion. James 1 tells me that I should be “quick to listen and slow to speak” but it does not tell me that I should not evaluate your opinion against the Word of God and natural truth.
I am happy to hear your opinion. I will listen and seek to learn about you and what you are saying. If I am truly listening, then I am seeking to learn and grow with you. But that does not mean that I must accept or validate all that your saying. I will defend your right to say it, but will not blindly believe that what you are saying is truth just because you say it.
Paul says it this way in Rom 14. “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another”. He is speaking of the truth that we are servants of Jesus and he is our master. Who am I to judge others, to express my opinion as truth, on those who answer only to Jesus. Please do not miss one of the most important points. One that we have truly forgotten as a culture. “Who are you”? In reality, in the scope of all of culture, in light of the truth of your flaws and your limitations, who are you to believe that all that you say is truth? There is no truth for one individual. Truth is truth for everyone. You may think, “It is my truth. I believe that I am a bear”. You may believe you are a bear but that does not make it truth. Who are you to change truth? God is the arbitrator and creator of truth. In reality, it is only God’s opinion that matters.
This lie, that all of our opinions are equal and that they matter, places us at the apex of our universe. It is a position that we have not been created or equipped to hold. So, due to that fact alone, that we do not have the ability to hold that position, we make a mess of our lives. We fight with people as we seek their affirmation of what we alone believe. We create chaos where ever we go because we demand that people bow to our ideas and opinions. We become islands to ourselves because we believe no one does things right and no one truly cares about us.
The major weakness or flaw with that kind of thinking is that we all crave the approval and love of others. We are not built to be islands and so we see the approval of others. God tells us that true love thinks of others. True love seeks what is best for others. When we spend all of our energy demanding that our opinions be validated as truth, we cease making life about others and we force others to make life about us. We push away our spouses, our children, our families, and any friends we thought we had.
Maybe it is time for us to ask ourselves the question Paul poses, “Who are you?”. We are not God. Hold strong opinions but be humble enough to realize that not all your opinions are most important. Be humble enough to believe that you matter but your opinion is just that...an opinion.
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