Last week I shared my struggle with believing lies. It seems that in several areas of my life, God is calling out these lies and prodding me to believe the truth. (Did you print the free Lies vs Truth printable?)
Here are two lies that can trip me up.
Follow Your Heart
If you like to veg out in front of Hallmark movies, you have seen the promotion of the “Follow Your Heart” campaign. Don’t know what to do, follow your heart. Or questions like, “What is your heart telling you to do?“
But from the first sin, the Bible is clear that our hearts are deceitful and are filled with sinful desires.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)
Who can understand it?
For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.
Mark 7:21-23 (NIV)
The problem is that our hearts (feelings, desires, and emotions) change based on our situation, maturity, and the time of month. And when we choose to follow our arrogant, fluctuating, prideful hearts, we believe a lie that the world centers around us.
My Feelings Rule Me
The second lie that I have been believing is that my feelings rule me. As Tonya shared in our ABCJesusLovesMe Facebook Group, I have become a “slave to my feelings.”
See if you can relate to any of these…
I feel tired, so I won’t exercise.
I feel overwhelmed with activities, so it’s okay to eat poorly.
I feel down, but this piece of Halloween candy will taste really good.
I feel tired, so I will sleep instead of getting up to ready my Bible.
I feel cranky, so I’m justified in being short with my spouse.
I feel lazy, so I will armchair parent my children.
My feelings or fleshly desires are ruling me. But God is calling out this lie as well.
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:17-21
My fleshly desires or feelings keep me from doing the things that I know are best for me. My flesh produces idolatry when I choose laziness over taking care of God’s temple (my body). My flesh produces dissension and division when I am short with my spouse and my children.
We need to call out the lie to follow our heart and falsely believe that we have to be a slave to our feelings.
It’s a Choice
Once I understand the truth, I have a choice: stay in the muck of the lies or step into freedom of the truth.
So, I ask you, what lie are you wallowing in? Today is the day to call out the lie and claim the truth.
