This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”
Jeremiah 17:5-10 (NLT)
In one of the all-time classic rock songs, The Who sing about a coming revolution and how they can’t wait to be a part of it. They’re not going to miss out on it, and in their words, they, “won’t get fooled again.”
It’s easy to get fooled, especially by the internet, and it’s possible to fool others too. But the person that I find I am most likely to fool is the person I see in the mirror every day. I have a great capacity for telling myself what I want to hear and then believing it. I get fooled again, all the time.
In his recently released book, Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets, pastor and author Andy Stanley writes about, “five questions to help determine your next move.” The first question, "the fooling yourself" question is what he calls the ‘integrity’ question, which is, “Am I being honest with myself, really?” Stanley makes the point that if we are going to make better decisions, we have to start by being honest with ourselves. We need to be willing to ask ourselves, “Why am I doing this…really?” and then be honest about it.
“Why am I avoiding him…really?”
“Why am I spending this money…really?”
Sounds simple, but it can be a challenge. Telling ourselves the truth can be hard.
In the book of Jeremiah, there is a king that wants Israel to stop being a puppet state for Babylon and decides to make an alliance with Egypt to accomplish it. Jeremiah tries to warn him that it’s not going to work out and attempts to get the king to be honest with himself to no avail. In describing the situation, Jeremiah writes, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things…” (Jeremiah 17:9).
He knew what you and I know, that we all have the capacity to tell ourselves what we want to hear. But if we are going to navigate life well, we need to make better decisions. And better decisions begin with asking the right questions. A great place to start is with the simple question, “Am I being honest with myself, really?”
Is there currently a situation you are in or a decision you need to make that you need to be honest with yourself about? Really?