Being conscious of our sins is not the way God wants us to live. By contrast, being aware of how God sees us in Christ—innocent and free—lets us focus on our righteousness. We are forgiven because Jesus has dealt with our sin. We are not what we do; bad behavior does not separate a person from God, but rather the sinful nature of a person before they get born again. Living under the law always creates guilt and self-condemnation for failing in our self-efforts to perform good enough to please God; by comparison, living under grace redefines our identity. It restores us to the fact that He originally created us as righteous, blameless, and holy. Believing that God decided to make us just like Him even before the beginning of time keeps us anchored in our true identity when the world bombards us with messages to the contrary.

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What we focus on dramatically impacts the quality of our lives. An awareness of sin, and the shame and guilt it brings, comes from the knowledge of the law. It causes believers to see themselves as unworthy and condemned because of their failures, and makes them think they must work to get into heaven. By comparison, being aware that we are innocent comes from knowing that Jesus has redeemed us and made us righteous. We will never experience the freedom grace brings if we remain conscious of our sins. Jesus, who is perfect and flawless, went to the cross and exchanged His perfection and righteousness for our imperfections and sinfulness. Choosing to be in Christ therefore empowers us to walk in the Spirit and frees us from all condemnation.

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The devil is always actively working to destroy us. One of the ways he makes inroads in our lives is by getting us to be more aware of our sins and shortcomings instead of our righteousness. God sees born-again believers as innocent and acquitted of all accusations the enemy has made against us. We must therefore be more conscious of what Jesus has done for us under grace than sin, and the shame and guilt that accompanies it. Focusing on grace instead of on the law shows us that we are no longer sinners, but saints. Accepting our stance in Christ positions us to enjoy eternal life in heaven with God. Choosing to live under grace frees from the law’s curses and reveals to us our righteous stance in Him as citizens of heaven.

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An awareness of sin is Satan’s number one weapon to keep believers stagnant and paralyzed in one place. His strategy is to constantly remind us of our mistakes so that he can control us through guilt and shame. This spiritual paralysis is not a good place to be because being conscious of sin keeps us from receiving the liberty that Jesus gave us. The battle started in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned and went from being innocent to feeling guilty, ashamed, and afraid. This led to the temporary establishment of the Mosaic Law until Jesus came. Now that grace has come, God invites us to live under it so that sin will no longer have dominion over us. Thankfully, because of what Jesus did, we have been pardoned, forgiven, and declared innocent.

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Deceiving ourselves comes with serious consequences. Telling ourselves a lie so often that we eventually believe it blinds us to the truth by producing a false view of our circumstances. Personally, it damages relationships and stunts our personal growth; in leadership, it leads to poor decision-making because leaders may overlook problems or crucial feedback. Failing to deal with self-deception keeps us from growing and developing spiritually. By comparison, seeing the truth of God’s love and how it applies to us gives us our lives back. A willingness to face our real selves just as we are, despite the pain involved, is how we avoid being deceived. Accepting our authentic selves without buying into a cheap copy of ourselves lets us be who God made us to be.

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Deceiving ourselves trips us up on our spiritual walk. When we deceive ourselves, we are blind to the assumptions we make and think we are right when we are actually wrong. Much of this is delivered through the pulpit; wrong doctrine deceives us so that we do not see the truth of God’s love and grace. Our success in life hinges on knowing our true identity as His righteous children. God wants to show us that we are His reflection; understanding this prevents us from being deceived. Letting the Holy Spirit guide us in how to live keeps us humble and protects us from pride, which is closely intertwined with self-deception. Sharing God’s perspective though Jesus Christ gives us the spiritual vision we need.

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God has great plans for our lives, but those plans are blocked when we deceive ourselves. Deceiving ourselves makes us spiritually blind to the truth of a situation; this is something God wants to deliver us from. Self-deception springs from the fall of man in the garden of Eden, and our sinful nature that resulted from it. The devil works through this and tries to convince us that our identity is based on our bad behavior instead of on God’s Word concerning our righteousness. What was true under the law may no longer be true under grace; we fool ourselves when we think we must live by an outdated covenant. The lies we believe about ourselves neutralize us. Recognizing who we are in Christ and believing what God says about us opens our eyes to the truth about ourselves.

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The most dangerous thing about self-deception is that when we are operating in it, we do not even know that we are being deceived. Failing to be true to what we believe is right causes us to rationalize and make excuses. Being true to our sense of what the right thing is relieves us from having to explain our actions; if we are false to our belief, then our excuses make the wrong thing that we are doing appear right. Deceiving ourselves causes a disturbance in us that we cannot reconcile because deep down inside, we know exactly what we should do. Fooling ourselves in this manner results in spiritual blindness us to the truth. This type of thinking is something we must beware of because it is built into the world’s norms and values. The best way to avoid this trap is to follow through and live the Word of grace after hearing it; this powerfully internalizes the truth as it is now.

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To experience God’s best, it is important not to live in deception. This especially applies to us because believing the wrong thing causes us to deceive ourselves. Operating too long in deception can harden our hearts and lead us to believe a lie. We are all susceptible to this; God therefore wants to work with us to help us stop fooling ourselves. Letting Him guide us in this area keeps our spiritual eyes open so that we can see the dangers of associating with the wrong kinds of people and avoid being corrupted. When we see others in self-deception, we must tell them the truth, but do so in love. Studying God’s Word concerning this keeps us from falling into this trap.  

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One thing we can count on as Christians is that we will encounter trouble and tribulation. There is no escaping this; however, in the midst of the suffering, we must learn to depend on God as the one who brings us through it all. This helps us to navigate through all the stress that life throws at us. The very nature of His grace demands dependence on Him; grace from God, and our faith in Him, must become inseparable. Trusting God to this degree means that instead of asking Him to take away the pain, we begin thanking Him for going through it with us. Choosing to depend on Him as our source impacts every area that concerns us, including our financial lives. A decision to rely on God as our source for everything we need to succeed impacts our hearts and makes us generous. To support the ministry financially, text "CDMPodcast" to 74483 or visit www.worldchangers.org.