Deception has incredible power. It has the power to shatter a lifetime of trust built in a matter of seconds.

I respond viscerally at the scent of deception. For a good part of my life, I naively believed what people said, even when the circumstances didn’t seem to quite line up. I still believe it is best practice to trust what someone says- to believe the best about a person.

In addition, experience has taught me the wisdom of evaluating whether rubber meets the road regarding what someone has told me. By not doing this, I unwittingly enabled and supported others in addictions and destructive behaviors. Being aware has helped me set healthy boundaries and love others more like Jesus did- with grace and truth..

I have tasted the painful reality of broken trust and what that does to relationships that matter to me. In all the grieving of lost trust and hoping for future trust to be rebuilt, I’ve gotten to consider the damage value of different shades of deception.

Here is by far the worst:

The Worst Kind of Lie

I’ve discovered that the worst kind of lie is not the deception of another person. The worst kind of lie is deception that I believe about God.

What we believe about God determines whether I am wrestling with thoughts and attitudes that I can’t seem to shake or resting in the reality of Who He is. It determines whether I am able to receive all that God has for me.

A.W. Tozer wrote:

the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at any time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.

He was spot on. (More on this in The Most Important Fact About Us)

Not What I Logically Believe

I’m not talking about what I believe logically about God. I’m talking about the truths I live life out of. I logically believed that God can heal most of my life but never once asked Him to heal me emotionally or physically in any way until recent times (and only at His clear prompting). I logically believed that God helps us but lived like He required me to have things figured out and taken care of on my own. What I mentally acknowledged to be true about Him was not what I truly believed in my soul.

If you’ve walked closely with me through the last few years, you know some of the attitudes and behaviors (like perfectionism, caretaking, and feeling guilty whenever I receive help) that I’ve invested a lot of time trying to get free of through research, counsel, reflection, seeking advice, and prayer. Through a You are Worthy Ministries class by Jennifer Smallwood, I’ve been able to see that it’s these worst kind of lies that have kept me stuck in those behaviors and thoughts.

What Kind of Lies Qualify?

Some of the kinds of lies that can qualify here are:

• God is really out there somewhere- not here with me. I can’t hear or receive from Him.
• God is with me, but He doesn’t interact with me on a practical level from day to day.
• God is with me and engages with me, but He really expects me to have things figured out and solved on my own.
• God determines my value based on how I perform or conform to His plans.
• God will only invest in me if I’m sick or in trauma somehow.

The Power of Truth

There are so many more, but each lie has the power to create a lot of frustration in my life. God has currently been working in me to help me truly, practically know and believe what I logically “knew” about Him. This heart knowledge transforms how I live on a day-to-day basis. As I begin to truly know truths like the ones below, I see anxiety dissipate, joy wash in, and faith fill me when the floor falls out.

• God set my value eternally by What He paid for me with (the precious blood of the Lamb 1 Peter 1:19)
• God’s love is truly unconditional.
• He is always communicating with me, just as the head of a body is always communicating with the body.
• God is with me and engages meaningfully and practically with me moment by moment.
• God declared all created things, including me, good.
• He made His temple in us. We have complete access to Him and He is always desiring to communicate with us, empower us, and help us.

Where Have You Been?

You might be wondering why it’s been so long since you have heard of me…why I haven’t finished that series I started. Last November I posted on my birthday why I’d been silent for a while- that I’d had a mild traumatic brain injury in August of 2020 and was finally starting back writing. Unfortunately, later that day, I had another brain injury (and would go on to have another, due to a shift in vision and change in my balance). I took a necessary break in writing while I went through neuro therapy and followed my neurologist’s advice of significant rest. This September, God indicated that He wants to heal my brain. Though I don’t know how His timing works in this case, I have already seen real improvement, including my vision being healed. I am thankful to be back here again.

Sip Life Slowly

This blog is here for us to pause and take a moment to draw nearer to our loving, heavenly Father. It is a place to reflect on how we can engage more meaningfully in our lives. Its an invitation into moments of tranquil rest and deep joy in the everyday, each day. Click below to follow, and check out other blogs below that you might enjoy.

• Longing
• The Incredible Empty
• The Unfading Beauty of a Gentle and Quiet Spirit
• Do You Have A Destructive Love Style? Take This Quiz
• The Power of the Names of God in Your Life

Photo Attribution edited from: Free Stock photos by Vecteezy

Copyright ©  2021 Angela Edmonds. All rights reserved.