Buying The Lie

Genesis 3:13  “And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

I have had the privilege of teaching at Minnesota Teen Challenge the past two weeks. I was talking with one of the counselors and he said, “God has brought all of us here for healing.” Meaning the students as well as the counselors, teachers, me, all the people involved with Teen Challenge. I have found it amazing to see God’s faithfulness. To see His hand at work in me, teaching me so much more than I am teaching the students.

While preparing for class today I was thinking about the lies we buy into. How the world, (Satan) tricks us into believing a lie, into having a false world view. How we then turn this false image of the world into our reality.

When I was eighteen I wanted to be a Youth Minister. I attended church my whole life, but looking back I realized I witnessed very few people who really lived the life of a follower of Christ. I had very few role models that exemplified the qualities of Jesus Christ. I was surrounded by some very kind and loving men and women, but no one discipled me, no one taught me, no one poured into me how to live the life of a believer. I was confirmed, I memorized Scripture, I went to Bible Camp. Yet there was a huge void, I had no solid core beliefs on which to base my world view, my views on marriage, family, drugs, alcohol, sex, relationships, fatherhood.

After High School, I was off to college and the university was packed with professors who were more than willing to pour their world view into us. To pour into young men and woman eager to absorb knowledge, to absorb what was sold to us as wisdom. In an unbelievably short amount of time I had totally bought the lie, “Christians are weak minded people who believed in fairy tales.” I created my own view of God. God was who I wanted Him to be, he existed by my rules and I was free to live the way I wanted to live.

I believed this lie for nineteen years, well into my adult years. I spent those years destroying my marriage, living a selfish life devoted to my happiness. I was not teaching my children how to live Godly lives, just the opposite. Only by God’s grace were my eyes open to the truth. God brought men and women into my life who lived the life of a believer. God gave me a thirst for His word and the Holy Spirit is teaching me.

The last month I have been truly blessed to be surrounded by men who want to change, by men who are seeking the truth, by men who no longer want to believe a lie.