Don't Be Fooled

If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. James 1:26 (New King James Version)

We are susceptible and vulnerable to self deception because we have deceptive and defective hearts. It is one thing to manipulate and fool the people around us. It is quite another to be so self deceived that we don’t even realize we have believed, bought, and embraced a lie. The lies are the very fibers that make up the material for the garments of hypocrisy we wear. Change will not occur because we don’t even understand there is a need for change. Hence, without revelation from God we will continue to cloak ourselves in a wardrobe of fruitless, purposeless, aimless living.

One litmus test for true religion is the bridling of the tongue. A person can have all the external manifestations of religion down pat and have it all come up worthless if there is no curbing of their words. Too often, we want to limit this to swearing or crude speech, but God wants us to go deeper and broader. While our conversations should be free of curse words, they should also be free of gossip, negative talk, lies, innuendos, exaggerations, boasting, putting others down, prejudice, and coveting (to name a few). All the church activities, Bible studies, doctrinal stands, and witnessing will be empty and futile if our speech continues to go unchecked, uncurbed, unchanged, and unguarded.

In order to avoid self deception I must be willing to let God show me the truth about myself, not only in the things I am saying but in all areas of my life. I want to know what would make my practice of religion profitless in God‘s eyes. Understand, this verse is not referring to salvation. Salvation is a relationship with God through faith in Christ. This verse is referring to the outward manifestation of that relationship. Think of the changes that could come about if just this one area of our speech would become apparent and fully realized. This is not a matter of looking around and seeing whether or not others are guarding their speech, it is a matter of each examining himself. And it starts with asking God to show us individually where we need to make some changes.

Our “speech therapy” needs to take place in our homes, work places, churches, and any other place whereby we are in the company of others. May God help us to not only detect our wrong usage of words but to replace them with words of truth, encouragement, and life! Not only the words we verbalize to others but also the words we say to ourselves.

Father, Your words are true and powerful. They always produce fruit and never return void. Make me like You. Amen.

We Will Glorify - Twila Paris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4skT9ndv6ng&feature=related

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.