Many of us know what makes a good lie, and one of the easiest people for us to lie to is ourselves. Just as the lies that we tell to others are designed to shape their perspective of the truth, so do our self-told lies carry out the task of veiling the cold, hard truth about ourselves.
I said that we all know what makes a good lie. Just to be clear, a good lie is one that is indistinguishable from the truth. So, when we try to look at ourselves honestly, our own perspective of ourselves tends to be skewed albeit in fractions that make it nearly impossible for us to discern. The result is a thin, fine line between who we are and who we need to be.
We do our level best to be honest, but I have found that that honesty can be extremely difficult to come by honestly. In and of myself, I cannot paint an entirely accurate picture of who I am without skewing the results because not only do I want to look good before others, I want to be able to look into the mirror without feeling shame, without being afraid. Oftentimes, my true intention for when I gauge myself and my accomplishments is to find a light that makes these objects acceptable. Not only that, I try to present them so as to make them shine.
For example, I enjoy working out, lifting weights and such. One of my favorite times to check up on the results of this physical exercise is right after I get home from the gym. I’ll take off my shirt as I get ready to shower and check myself out in the mirror to analyze the results of my exercising. This sounds quite vain, I know, but there is a large problem with this aside from the vanity issue.
In the hour or so immediately following a workout, my muscles are especially swollen from being used. What I’m seeing in the mirror is not the best representation of the success or failure of my exercising. The results are skewed. When I wake up in the morning after hours of sleep, my body looks more lean and weaker from lack of use.
Where this becomes a real issue are those times when I contemplate going to the gym. When my desire is not quite there for me to exercise, the image that my mind usually conjures up is not the one of my scrawnier, morning reflection in that mirror. What I remember is the skewed picture from directly after the workout. Sometimes, I’ll then find myself putting off a trip to the gym because it does not quite seem necessary. I’ll think that beside looking okay in the mirror, I’ll actually think that I looked pretty darn good. I, then, will put off going to the gym.
I judge myself wrongly based on a skewed vision of my accomplishments. I fail to take the necessary action because of a lie I have created. And it is this kind of lie that Satan lives for.
For this principle applies to every area of our lives.
Cross Section 