Dancing with Myself - Self Deception Series 1 – Purity 1090

To see today's work of art, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Uh, today's work of art, The Scream by Edvard Munch, comes to us from Munch, obviously, and yours truly, as I captured this 1895 lithograph version of Munch's iconic 1893 painting while visiting the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., yesterday. Well, it's Monday, and while the return of the work week may want to cause you to scream, recent insights into my personal walk of faith have me absolutely howling at the moon like a broken-hearted timberwolf, because while I pride myself with my ability to overcome and stay close to the Lord on the path of Christian discipleship, it was revealed to me that I may have been dancing with myself more than walking and talking with God. Over the last week, I've been exposed to several Christian resources that have led me to the conclusion that I have been deceiving myself. The first of which was the audiobook version of Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart, specifically from chapter 5, Spiritual Change: The Reliable Pattern. I listened to it 2 or 3 times over the last week or so because it was jam-packed with spiritual truth, wisdom, and addresses the topic of spiritual transformation. Being more and more like Jesus. I paraphrased/misquoted one of the lines from this chapter last week as the title of one of my blog posts: God isn't going to drag you kicking and screaming to a transformed life. Dallas's quote said something about God picking you up by the seat of the pants, but the sentiment was the same. Basically, you have to want to be transformed, and you have to set your intention to do so. Willard presents VIM, which is Vision, Intention, and Means, as an acronym of the process of spiritual formation. Vision: we have to see that transformation is possible. We have to be convinced that our transformation can actually happen. We have to believe it to receive it. Intention: we have to set the intention to actually surrender to the process of being transformed. We have to want to be made well. We have to put our thoughts and action behind our desire to change. We not only have to want it in some general sense, we have to personally choose to pursue and accomplish the goals we wish to obtain. And then means. Uh, we have to examine and investigate the matter at hand and discover the means by which we will accomplish our goal and maintain and remain in our transformed life. We have to know how to get from A to B and stay the course from this point forward. A transformed life means there is no going back, so we don't just try hard and get there. We get a vision, set our intention, and accomplish and remain in our transformed state. Our goal of being set free and being conformed to the image of Christ is not behavior modification, It is spiritual transformation. We have to be changed from the inside out, and we have to go to God to help us because we can't do it on our own. This is not self— this is not, not some self-improvement plan we are on here. We are on the path of Christian discipleship, walking in the Spirit. And so God has to be a part of this process. We have to abide in him, ask him for strength and guidance, and most importantly, we have to obey. The other resource that has further convicted me of this fact, uh, the fact that I have been deceiving myself in certain areas of my walk, was a teaching by Jim Logan that I watched yesterday on Getting Free and Staying Free. Sharing a link for the series on the blog. In part 6, Logan talks about how pride leads to destruction and how every temptation comes from the enemy. His teaching convicted me that some of the choices I have made in giving myself grace with my health goals were nothing more than pride— than my prideful decision to disregard the truth and go against my intention to lose enough weight to not no longer need a sleep apnea device. While I have made great strides with my health and have been content over not being where I was and gaining some definition in some areas of my body, I have given into indulging the flesh and self-sabotaged my intentions to push through the obesity zone. Suddenly, I believe the lie that I'm different, or I deserve a break, that has told me that my freedom and victory is limited in some way, when objective reality, if nothing else, testifies of the truth that yes, a 6-foot man, uh, can live a health— at a healthy weight and not need a sleep apnea device. There are probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions of men in the world, probably most without Jesus, that this is not an issue for. Granted, there are many who are in my situation or worse, but reality tells me those guys over there did it, so I could do it too. So the mental dialogue that says, I can't do it, I don't want to, I need to have this, I, I always have that, I don't like this, are all barriers. Lies that hold a degree of truth that cloud my vision, degrade my intention, and mess up the means to a life that is set free. But most importantly, I have forgotten the face of my Father. I have forgotten the basic lessons that I have already learned about freedom and victory. And the basic lesson is that I can't do it. God has to help me. I have to surrender to him and go to him to receive the help and not pridefully decide that I can do it on my own, or I can set the conditions and decide on the means of my transformation. I have been dancing with myself in this area of my life, deciding that compromise was okay and that I had to do this on my own. I would have never gained victory over alcohol, drugs, or sex addiction on my own, so why did I decide that I could get healthy on my own? Self-deception. Thanks God, I got this. I don't think so. I haven't had it because the victory and freedom has not come. The idea of having a vision and setting our intention is that we will accomplish what we set out to do. If we haven't, we really need to look at where we messed up. And in my case, it was in subtly deciding that I was on my own with my health goals. So today I'm launch a new series on self-deception because I realize that we all have blind spots, and I hope to point out different ways we deceive ourselves. So tune in tomorrow and the days and possibly weeks ahead to see how I, and maybe you, have lied to ourselves and in turn decided to not experience all that the Lord has for us. Today's Bible verse, verse, is come to us from the Quick Ref— Scripture The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling, um, by John G. Crews. And today's Bible verses are 2 Samuel 12:1-14. And the word of God says, and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, there were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for him who had come to him, for the man who had come to him. Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity." Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul, and I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms, and and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah, and if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of God, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me, And have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house: and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbour; and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die." Today's verses fall under the 10th point of counseling— the Our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on adultery. Nathan called David to repent of his adultery. I am short on time this morning, so I will point out that David deceived himself by believing his sin was hidden. Alexa, stop that. And thus he was free of the consequences. He thought he had covered all the bases and he was safe, but the prophet Nathan got a word from God. Alexa, stop that. Um, Nathan got a word from God to cleverly craft a message to convict David of the depth of his depravity and to let him know that God sees everything. Rules are meant to be broken, but don't get caught doesn't work, guys, because God sees everything and sin corrupts everything. So confess and repent, uh, and repeat. We can't hide our sin, but through Christ we can be forgiven and given the power to turn from it. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.org, where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit, and we're on chapter 12, The Spirit's Enlightening. And today, uh, the sections on characteristics of enlightenment. Well, that was my alarm, and I gotta literally run to work. Um, so I'll say a quick prayer. Lord God, bless anyone who's listening to this message, and we just pray for you to lead us all in the way we should go. Show us the things we need to see and the things we need to do today, Lord. And And help us to see the lies we tell ourselves and, uh, help us to change. Help us to, uh, rely on you and ask you for help when we need it. And show us the truth, Lord, because we need to see it. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.