I’m A Pretty Good Liar

13 posted on November 13, 2008

POSTED IN: Authenticity, Makes You Think

I’d like to think that I’m a pretty honest, straightforward person. If you ask me, I’ll generally tell you what I think. I especially try to be open and transparent on my blog where I hit topics that some may consider controversial head on.

But the truth of the matter is that many times I’m less than truthful. I can spin stories with the best of them. I can stretch the truth and exaggerate the details. I lie to and hurt the worst person of all – myself.

The simple truth is that I’m an expert at lying to myself.

Through the years I’ve grown accustomed to telling myself half-truths and, even worse, believing them. Perhaps you know the kind of lies I’m talking about.

I don’t have what it takes to be successful
I’m not ‘hip’ enough or ‘cool’ enough to run with that crowd
I’m not a good father/husband
I have to hide who I really am for people to like me

These small lies and half-truths are some of the worst falsehoods we can tell because we’re deceiving ourselves. We’re choosing to believe something that isn’t true about the one person on this planet we know better than anyone. We allow the seeds of deceit to take root and grow until our minds become a jungle of lies that prevent us from seeing the truth – the truth about what our Creator says about us.

We each have the God-given power to make those lies become reality. What starts out as a complete lie, when believed, can soon grow into reality.

Alexander Pope, in his Essay on Man said it this way,

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan,
The proper study of mankind is man.
Plac’d on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic’s pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas’ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little or too much:
Chaos of thought and passion, all confus’d;
Still by himself abus’d or disabus’d;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;

I’m constantly amazed that God created us with the amazing ability to manifest the reality of what we believe. This will that he created us with allows us to choose what we believe – not only about God and other people, but most importantly about ourselves.

What are you choosing to believe about yourself? Does it line up with what God says about you? Are you buying into the lies you’re telling yourself hook, line and sinker?

Take some time in the next couple of days to get alone somewhere and ask yourself if you’re believing less that what God says about you. Recognize the lies you’ve believed and replace them with the truth.

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)

** this is a repost of a guest blog post I wrote for Crystal Renaud **

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 9:54 am and is filed under Authenticity, Makes You Think. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

10 Comments

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November 13, 2008

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1 Abbey said:

This is good Brad! Something I definitely needed to hear.
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November 13, 2008

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2 Tim said:

Once again, I’m having a “Yeah, me too” moment. My problem is that I forget who and what I am/should be living for, so instead of promoting God, I begin to self promote…even to myself. Maybe especially to myself.

Tims last blog post..Our Hope and Change
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November 13, 2008

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3 mandy said:

Me too…I’m lying to myself right now…I said that popcorn & soda are perfectly fine for breakfast…Popcorn is a grain!!

Oh, and it looks like you hot glued a hot dog to your face.

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4 Juli Jarvis said:

lol
I don’t know what’s funnier — the photo here, or Mandy’s remark about it.

I think I’m lying to myself when I believe some situations will never improve
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November 13, 2008

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5 patrowland said:

good stuff Brad. thanks for being open, honest, authentic and challenging us to do the same. I think we all struggle with the comparison issue. We are all deep down inside insecure teenagers for life.

patrowlands last blog post..Christmas Card Caption Please…
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6 Nick said:

Do you have problems with Raccoons trying to eat your nose?

Great post!

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7 Double A-ron said:

haha, that pic cracks me up!

Double A-rons last blog post..“Gotta Be Somebody”
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8 BJ said:

Dude, that is so true, we cut ourselves down so much by believing that crap….God has so many awesome things in store for us all and if we just believe no matter what nothing is impossible through him. We just need to tell ourselves to shut up sometimes!!!!

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November 14, 2008

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9 tam said:

dang it. im sorry. but i cant get passed the fact your nose looks like a hot dog.

[hands head in shame]

goodbye

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November 14, 2008

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10 Aaron said:

Totally. Even more so, I think some of us who enjoy a bit of self-depracating humour (yes, I spelled with with a “u” since I’m on a train to Leeds in the UK at the moment) can begin believing things we tell others about ourselves (I’m always forgetting to do blah, blah, I’m not good at x, etc).

Cheers, mate!

Aarons last blog post..Perception is Reality