A L M A C I A S

WE LIVE IN A DECEPTIVE WORLD

Today we are living in a world that is plagued with deception on many sides. Even among those who should be of the most honorable of men, those in politics, we find some who have been very deceptive in their conduct. We have some who have been deceptive in their marriages; and, as a result, there have been many failed marriages. It seems that for many deception is not viewed as a bad thing, as long as you are not caught. It has been said by some that you can deceive some of the people some of the time, but no one can deceive all of the people all of the time. Eventually, some of the things we may have tried to hide or cover up will come out in the open. In the letter to the Galatians, the apostle wrote concerning deception and how it is impossible for anyone to deceive God as they might deceive others.

Paul wrote in Galatians 6:7-8, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Let's examine some of the thoughts found here. First, we find Paul addresses one of the worst forms of deception, that of self-deception. It is bad enough when one person deceives another or, in some cases, when one person deceives a whole nation. However, deceiving oneself would have to be considered the worst of all. None of us can control what other people do, including their being dishonest with us. We have no control over all those who have tried and succeeded, in many cases, to deceive us; but we can control whether we will deceive ourselves or not. The Bible teaches us how to avoid self-deception, at least in those things that matter the most ­ those of the spiritual realm.

In the passage before us, the apostle Paul told the brethren of Galatia, as well as all of us, one thing we all need to understand: one form of self-deception is thinking that we can mock God. In the day of judgment, no one will be able to go to God and redefine terms, as some have tried to do when they have been caught in lies or deception. In that day, we will not be able to justify ourselves before God by thinking that He does not know all there is to know about us. In this passage, Paul actually tells us how we can protect ourselves from being cast out from the presence of God on the day of judgment. Paul told us that if we want to reap everlasting life, we need to sow to the Spirit. We need to do those things that are right in the sight of God, as we find them in the Scriptures. At the same time, we need to stay away from all of those things that are prohibited in the Scriptures because they are carnal and of the flesh. There are many passages in which the inspired writers of the New Testament made lists of things which God considers to be works of the flesh, so that no one would have any doubts as to what Paul meant when he said that if we sow to the flesh, we will reap corruption. How are we sowing?