40 Days to Lasting Change Day 19
Tricks We Use
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8
We go to great lengths to tell ourselves something other than the truth, to keep an illusion going rather than get honest with our reality. We’re willing to use all sorts of methods to justify our choices and actions and to turn off the alarms of awakening. Denial is a powerful tool, and it comes in several forms. (Idleman, Kyle. 40 Days to Lasting Change: An AHA Challenge (p. 126). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.)
Denial is one of those dark words that keep us in a dark place. We almost seem to adjust to the darkness, loving its false promise of protection but it really isn’t protecting just covering us from seeing and being clearly seen. But it’s there, churning and chewing on our hearts. We don’t understand why people don’t understand us but how can you understand someone that is not living in the truth? The author identifies three powerful tools of denial: Disagreement, Defensiveness, and Distraction. With these three tools, the devil keeps alive the story of denial while we are kept in bondage to disappointment and dread. Denial might seem easy but it’s not simple, declaration (confession) is simple but it’s not easy. Only one releases us to live.
From the Kitchen Table 