When we say what the reason is for the things that we do, what comes first in our lives, and when we say things like, “We do what we do for our kids” or, “We’re keeping God first”, we often deceive ourselves. It is often a vicious lie—a good face to rationalize and justify our real, selfish and evil motives; a totem to mask our idols and the demons that we serve.
The hearts we’re born with, being powerless to resist deception, become agents of deception—a medium of the propaganda of and a means of control for the prince of the power of the air, “deceitful above all things, desperately wicked”—and are therefore not to be trusted.
So, how can we discern the real reasons for the things that we do and what is actually first in our lives?
Interruptions and our reaction to them.
Interruptions and what they elicit in me—irritation, anger, frustration, annoyance, hate—reveal my true priorities and what I’m really seeking.
Whatever is being interrupted is a greater priority than the interruption.
I own a business. I started it to provide for my family.
One day I was picking up my son from school. He may have been in kindergarten at the time. As we were walking to the truck, my son, with a backpack almost bigger than he was, was dawdling about, walking listlessly. But I was in a rush to get to my next appointment and I yelled at him, “Would you come on here?!” I remember how that frightened him by the sudden startled look in his eyes, as the rushed spirit in me became the rushed spirit in him.
I cry writing this.
And as I think back, his little face indicated that he had something on his mind, but I missed that because, my son, someone I truly love—the one who I claimed to be working for—in that moment became the interruption.
How?
Lies block love.
My heart was not guarded and I fell prey to the lying suggestions about what I should want according to this world: who I should be, what I should be doing, what I should have, and it established in my heart a new pursuit.
And just that quick, the lies supplanted what should have been my priority in that moment—my son—by subtly seeding a desire for a different one. It’s that insidious.
I was made aware of it by the grace of God that allowed me to see a priority that I had allowed to become an interruption.
The guard we have against this now is the same guard there’s been since the dawn of man—loving God which is obedience to His Word.
The way we combat the deception of our hearts is by loving God—by abiding in Christ, who is the living Word.
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
— Hebrews 4:12
In His presence, all the shadows of our hearts are illuminated and our hidden motives are brought to light. The ultimate battle is to resist competing, deceptive and corrupting “loves” which is anything besides God. And as we seek to love God alone—with all our heart, mind, soul and strength—He rightly orders everything else so those things that should be priorities no longer become interruptions.
#perfectourlove
