God is Not Deceived

You probably know at least one person who is really good at getting whatever they want and talking their way out of anything. You probably just shake your head and wonder how they do it. 

My dad was one of those persons. I kid you not - there was a time he was driving down the interstate and threw a banana peel out his car window. That banana peel flew down the road...right into the open window of a state trooper's car and landed on the officer's floorboard. Dad got pulled over, threatened with a ticket for littering, ended up having the cop laughing right along with him, and got away with just removing the banana peel from the officer's car and putting it back in his own. (I'm pretty sure he threw it out the window again later.) 

You, too, probably know someone who could banana peel a police car and get away with a laugh. There are some folks who are just really good at it. 

Now, don't get me wrong. I think we all try this kind of thing. Most of us, anyway. There aren't a lot of us who are immediately confessional, who just own up to our shortcomings without trying to spin them. There aren't a lot of us who aren't trying to influence the world for our own benefit when it seems possible. There aren't a lot of us who don't want to be right and don't want others on our side. 

And, I think, this is even more true of Christians than of the general population. 

We are a people who keep trying to sweet-talk God into giving us what we want. We keep trying to trick Him into turning the other way. We keep trying to convince Him that what seems like the truth isn't quite the whole truth because He just needs our perspective on it. 

We spend a lot of our Christian lives trying to talk ourselves out of Hell, as if it somehow depended upon us and not on Him. And then, when we get the tiniest little inkling of love from our Lord, we are so bold as to think that we've succeeded. He is on our side! We have won Him over! 

But God cannot be deceived. You've never done such a good job of convincing Him that you're a good person that He actually thinks that you are. 

He knows that you're broken. He knows that you're fallen. He knows that you're sinful. He knows that even right now, while you're trying to convince Him that you're good, you're being deceptive and sneaky and underhanded. He knows that you think you're in control, even when you're pretending with your words that you trust in Him. He knows you're trusting in yourself...and your ability to deceive Him. 

But He cannot be deceived, and He will not be mocked (Galatians 6:7). Which is, uhm, exactly what you're doing. 

How can you mock a love as deep at this, that while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you? Not only how can you mock it, but how can you think you're getting away with it? 

One look at those nail-pierced hands, and it all falls apart. You can't just laugh your way out of this one. You may be able to talk your way out of anything, but put one nail through the embodied flesh of the Son of God and all that talk falls silent. 

Because He's not falling for it. 

He loves you too much for that.