Mike Focht 12/20/2024
No one wants to be lied to or be called a liar. Interestingly enough, it is John, the apostle of love, who calls out liars on more than one occasion. John knows allowing people to live in lies is not loving. It is not loving to allow liars to live in self-deception. The Holy Spirit inspired John’s straightforward speech because God knew we are all easily self-deceived. We might not like other people lying to us, but we are all apt to lie to ourselves.
One of the places John addresses our penchant toward self-deception is in 1 John 4:20-21: If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
Here, we find a fundamental spiritual principle. The divine finger has drawn a golden line in the sand that divides truth from lies. The spiritual principle is this: I do not possess any virtue toward God that I do not also possess toward men. In this particular passage, John is speaking about love and liars, but the spiritual principle holds true for any virtue.
If I think I love God, but don’t love the people around me, I am self-deceived. If I think I serve God well but don’t serve the people around me well, I am self-deceived. If I think I am obedient to God, but I don’t recognize the human structures of authority God has placed around me, I am self-deceived. If I think I am humble before God but do not live humbly before the people around me, I am self-deceived.
Whatever spiritual reality I assume I have before God, which is not subsequently spilling out to the very people God loves around me, is a total fabrication. God draws this line between lovers and liars to help the self-deceived realize where their deception hides, and then, repent. God loves us enough to tell us we are liars. He put this sharp distinction in His Word because we will all need it at some point in our lives. I need it. You need it.
It is important to recognize that we will never be perfect in our virtues. I will always have a measure of faulty love for God, and therefore, my love for men will also be faulty. That said, God wants our imperfect love to be growing more complete. So, when He reveals where our virtues are lacking toward others, He also draws us to fill our insufficiency with His sufficiency. When I find myself relating to those around me unlike Christ, falling short of His will and commands, God wants me to run to Him and have my lack filled with His fullness.
God wants us to repent of our self-deception because self-deception is also emptiness. When I realize I don’t have what I need toward others, I must also recognize that what I need toward others is only found in God. In coming to God, and drawing living waters from Him, I will have an overflowing torrent of His water to share with others. May God give us each the grace to leave behind our self-deception and find our all in Him.