Perception and deception do not share the same exact root origin, however, they are close to being opposites. Perception has to do with organizing and interpreting information to understand a thing or concept. Arriving at the truth is the original idea. Deception is the process of tricking one into believing something that is not true.
As I was praying early one morning the word perception popped in to my mind and lingered a moment. I wrote it down and came back to consider it more deeply a while later. Ones perception is not always accurate. Many factors can keep us from interpreting the truth of a matter, especially if there is active deception underway attempting to keep us from the truth. One of the names of Satan is the father of lies. . . another is the Deceiver.
Here are some things we can do to sharpen our perceptions:
Know the truth, the Word of God. The Word is a person, as the apostle John tells us in the beginning of his gospel. That person is Jesus. The Word has two root words used in the New Testament.
Logos is the Greek Word for the Holy Spirit inspired, written Word we call the Bible, and it is how John 1 describes Jesus.
Rhema is used to denote the spoken word. For example, when Jesus told the disciples to fish in the middle of the day and to throw the nets on the “wrong” side of the boat. (The fisherman’s definition of wrong.) The result was a huge haul of fish. I guess He perceived something they didn’t.
The Rhema word is active when a verse jumps out to us as we read. Holy Spirit “speaks” to us individually for our life now. I would include 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 in this as well: “Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.”
That “staying away from every kind of evil” is where the deception comes in. We do not necessarily have to be consciously hanging with evil. When we are “wounded” by someones words or actions to invite us to be offended by them. Offense is a big issue in our day and age. Jealousy, competition that turns angry, and other attitudes like that, all open the door to negative emotions. Unattended, these can help deceive us.
Our personal history, even as children, can lead us down pathways that are not in alignment with how God sees us. We may believe lies about ourselves because we did not, or probably we were not able to, line them up with the truth at the time. All of these give opportunities for deception to come cloud our perception.
Trauma we may have experienced, the lies spoken to us or over us, do not just go away when we are young and impressionable.
How do we get to where we have reasonably reliable perception?
We forgive all the offenders and the offenses. We go back to the Word to replace the lies with the truth.
The person of Jesus, the Logos, and Rhema Word of God, will lead us into deeper relationship with the Truth. After all, as Jesus said; “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father but through me” John 14:6
Spending time with Jesus and His people who are mature in the Word, to provide loving community, will strengthen our grid of accurate perception.
Perception and deception are rarely far from each other. The good news is that our ability to learn and perceive the truth will help us to spot the deceptions from a distance.
Abba, We want to love you, with all our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves. Sometimes we cannot do that because our perception is clouded by pains and lies. We ask you to draw us into deeper relationship with you. We choose to forgive offenses and accept your infinite love and truth for and about us. Thank you in advance for the ways you will meet us in this process. Amen
