Beware of Beautiful Lies

Note: I started to write this blog in 2016. As I was reviewing draft posts to see what I could develop, I noticed this title. When I opened the post it was blank. Praise the Lord. Even if He gives you an idea or book title, write it down. The prophetic is for a time to come.

There is a principle in Scripture that says we will find what we are looking for, when we search with all our hearts (Deut. 4:29, Prov. 8:17, Jer. 29:13, Matt. 7:7, Lk. 11:9, Acts 17:27). Scripture speaks of our search for God; there are conditions for when we find Him and when we will not find Him.

One of the bigger points, I think, is that our hearts are on a constant search. Salvation is in part the redirection of our hearts. If in our flesh we search for love, we are turned toward God’s perfect love. If in our flesh we search for acceptance and exhaust ourselves on the pleasure of people, then we are turned to a wonderful spiritual work that we did not earn. We have to be conditioned against earning God’s love by works.

What happens then, when a believer in Jesus Christ is still searching for something (or things) carnally that can only be found in relationship with Jesus? Until we settle into the truth of the Gospel we will be vulnerable to beautiful lies. The Gospel is sacrifice, redemption, grace, mercy, liberty, and promise. We are moved from darkness into marvelous light to love, worship, and practice relationship with God. The process of sanctification gives us room to grow through mistakes and error, and come into a grounded reality of God’s love and will for our lives.

We know where our weaknesses are… where the ground is shaky, or our convictions are not yet formed. This post is to entreat us to keep seeking the Lord. Keep walking with Him and being transformed in His love. Keep seeking His truth, and offer everything we hear and see that we are tempted to accept as His truth. In so doing, we guard our hearts from the beautiful lies.

What are beautiful lies? They are partial truths framed in something other than God’s Word or intention. Maybe it’s an opinion, family tradition, or the influence of culture. Maybe it’s a seemingly logical progression of thought that we cannot challenge or contradict. Maybe the partial truth is framed in the experience of race or nationality.

It’s “beautiful” because there is something in the lie that is appealing, seducing even, that draws us headfirst (pun intended) into the idea. And we can get swept away… without prayer… without looking for Scriptural support… without waiting on the Lord… without using common sense… without Kingdom identification.

Beware Beloved, and let’s make our calling and election sure in Christ. Let’s burst those fantasy bubbles and boldly enter into God’s truth by God’s Spirit and grace. Let’s embrace the Father’s perfect love, and then let that perfect love obliterate our fear. Let’s cultivate a sensitivity to Holy Spirit, and be taught of Him, so that we may sense that something is off when presented with a beautiful lie about ourselves, about others, about God, about faith in God, about politics, about family, about marriage, about having children, about raising children, about building businesses, about serving in ministry, about all of the issues that concern us. SELAH.

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Dr. Shaunta Scroggins is the founder of and lead contributor to The Bereans’ Commentary.