Let No Man Deceive Himself
The apostle Paul wrote “Let no man deceive himself” (I Cor.3:18). The greatest deception in the world is self-deception. Man may deceive himself by minimizing his sins (I Jn.1:8). We deceive ourselves by seeing the mote in a brother’s eye but never seeing the beam in our own eye (Mt.7:3-5).
We may deceive ourselves in thinking that God is like man (Psa.50:21). Adam and Eve could hide from each other, so they thought they could hide from God (Gen.3:10). Man thinks one religion is as good as another; so he thinks that God feels this way (Isa.55:8-9; Mt.15:13, 14).
Man can deceive himself by thinking he can sow one thing and reap something else (Gal.6:7). To get what was planted is a universal law. Apples only make apples. Man may deceive himself by only placing faith in tomorrow (Jam.4:13-14). Are we deceiving ourselves?