GOD AND OUR DESIRES

JESUS EXPOSED LIES

 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus established the Biblical Therapy process of exposing and correcting lies. He exposed a whole series of religious lies in Matthew 5 by using the phrase

 

“Ye have heard it said, but I say unto you . . .”

These are the lies that Jesus exposed:

 

  • In verses 21-22, He exposed the lie about murder.
  • In verses 23-24, He exposed the lie about forgiveness.
  • In verses 27-28, He exposed the lie about adultery.
  • In verses 31-32, He exposed the lie about divorce.
  • In verses 33-37, He exposed the lie about taking an oath.
  • In verses 38-42, He exposed the lie about impressments.
  • In verses 43-47, He exposed the lie about love.
  • In Chapter 6 of Matthew, Jesus continues the process.
  • In verses 1-4, He exposed the lie about giving.
  • In verses 5-8, He exposed the lie about prayer.
  • In verses 14-15, He exposed the lie about unforgiveness.
  • In verses 16-18, He exposed the lie about fasting.

 

BELIEVE WITHOUT BELIEVING ENOUGH

 

There are eleven lies and/or half-truths in these two groups alone. They reflect a mindset or mental condition of the most religious people of Jesus’ day. What they believed caused them to think, feel, and act in ungodly ways. People can believe wrongly about right things and be wrong. Fasting, forgiveness, prayer, giving, and love are all good. However, if what you believe about them is wrong, you are wrong no matter how religious you are. It is amazing how much we can believe without believing enough.

 

THE WORDS OF MARK TWAIN

 

Mark Twain once said:

 

“A lie runs around the world, while truth is putting on her boots.”

 

He was right. Fallen human nature wants to believe lies, especially “religious lies,” which makes it easy for the lies to take root. Of all demagogues’ activity, the religious ones who promote religious lies are the most despicable. They know how to bait the hook.

 

BELIEF EQUALS BEHAVIOUR

 

What we believe determines how we behave, and both determine what we become. If we believe the truth, the truth will satisfy us (John 17:17) and make us free (John 8:31-32). If we believe lies, we will gradually become a lie as we lose our integrity and begin to practice duplicity. It is fundamentally true that we become like the God we worship. If that god is false, we become false. “Those who make them false gods are like them. So is everyone who trusts in them” (Psalm 115:8).

 

ADOPTING LIES AS THE TRUTH

 

Very often people with life-controlling problems soon discover they have structured their lifestyle by the lies they have adopted as the truth. For example, people often say:

“Mankind is basically good. I’m OK, you’re OK.” That is a lie. The truth is:

 

“. . . the heart is desperately wicked, who can know it” (Jeremiah 17:9).

 

THE DESIRES OF OUR HEART

 

“If you don’t take care of yourself, no one else will.” The truth is, “…when we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart” (Psalm 37:4-5). When we put the Lord and His righteousness first, He will supply all of our needs (Matthew 6:33).

 

DR KRIGE AND HOUSE REGENERATION

 

This adapted content was extracted from A Biblical Approach to Psychotherapy authored by Dr Ado Krige, the Founding Director of House Regeneration, a South African drug rehabilitation centre offering a comprehensive discipleship training program. By applying principles of Biblical Therapy, using the Scriptures to teach, rebuke, correct, and train in righteousness, House Regeneration counsellors show anyone who has suffered from addiction how to fully understand why they do what they do and how to bring their belief systems in line with the Word of God.