Know Christ, No Deception

September 20

Faith is essentially an act of will. Each person accepts or rejects the claims of Christ as his heart dictates. Each person perceives God as he will—or disdains the thought of His existence—depending upon his own decision regarding the evidence at hand that declares of the veracity of God’s being (see Psalm 19:1).

The reality is that different people in different cultures have evolved a god-essence that is unique to themselves. Some see god as demanding great feats to prove devotion. They drag themselves to shrines honoring their ‘god’ with their foreheads pressed into the dirt.

Some believe their ‘god’ demands them to murder any who disbelieve—and these are willing to sacrifice themselves in the process of killing as many unbelievers as they can expedite to eternity. Some sacrifice even their children to the blood lust of their ‘god.’ How can it be that there is such rampant unbelief in the One True God?

The mindset of the denial of Christ existed even when He lived and walked among men, performing all manner of miracles and demonstrating the greatest love that has ever existed. John 12:37 acknowledges, “Even though He had performed many signs in their presence, they did not believe in Him.” Perhaps the answer lies in the words, "the heart of man is deceitful above all things," Jeremiah 17:9.

To discern truth, a man must set his heart to know the One who is truth, for without knowing Him in the reality of who He is, all manner of deception will be his portion, all manner of evil will be his convoluted truth.