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Mankind was created to depend on God. It is when we stray from this relationship that bad things start to happen. This vulnerability has been a primary target for Satan. He makes effective use of getting us to consider making our own assessments and taking our own actions;

Satan assured Eve that her taking independent action from God would not have a penalty but actually be beneficial. This was not true. God knew this would happen and had planned from before creation to have Jesus pay the price for sin that some might be redeemed. While the salvation available by faith in Jesus can rescue us from hell, the Christian also has a means to repair the damage our daily sin causes to our relationship with God. God has provided a way for us to restore our relationship with him when we stray;

The Greek word homologos (meaning the same words) is translated as the word 'confess'. This implies that when we can say the same things about what we have done and said that God would say, we can have a restored relationship with God. This 'confession' requires both humility and truth. The problem with the pervasive growth of the 'leaven' (hypocrisy) demonstrated by the Pharisees is that one becomes distant from both truth and humility having substituted something else for them and being convinced that what is held is the real thing.

If we consider some biblical examples of this sort of substitution, we can begin to get a better picture of how this process can grow to be a debilitating cancer.

Here we can see a divergence from God. What is less obvious is the motive force that leads to this state. It could be summed up as human will apart from God (selfishness). This is often seen in the behavior of children who insist on having something or doing something they desire in opposition to parental instruction. It has been said regarding children, 'They want what they want when they want it'.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. - 1 Samuel 15:23

At first glance the comparison of witchcraft and rebellion might seem like apples and oranges. However, at their core both activities are about getting what you want. Human history could be considered an accumulation of evidence for the pain and suffering caused by our attempting to get what we want.

There is a bumper sticker that declares 'He who dies with the most toys wins'. While there are many iconic ways to emblemize the selfishness of the world apart from God, this serves well to also connect it with a sort of infantile component.

The opposite of selfishness is love.

God himself is the example to us of this self-sacrificial love;

We have an example of ultimate selfishness in the rebellion of Satan;

While we may not have the grandiose ambitions of Satan, we can still in our own small way begin to follow a path away from God that makes us just as blind as the Pharisees became.

We see with the example of Eve how easily we can be seduced away from God to use our own ideas as the basis for making decisions. With the example of Peter and Barnabas, we find that we do not even need temptations from Satan as there is that within us that can divert us from faithfulness to God into seeing our own plans as if not virtuous, then at least acceptable.

There was a popular book written after WWII titled, 'God is my Co-pilot'. While well intentioned and seeking to be a testimony of faith, the implied subordinate position of God in the relationship testifies to much of the trouble Christians have had in modern times.

As with all things, Jesus is an example for us to see that even when faced with great difficulty, setting aside what we would prefer is essential in our relationship with God.

Much of modern life (education, corporate employment, and even social activities, are constructed such that God seems irrelevant or even an obstacle. This can make it difficult for a Christian because when God is not given his proper place, we often fill that void with our own ambitions, plans, and desires. This can be dangerous enough for the Christian, but there is also a danger that he can be attracted to a flavor of Christianity that feeds his self-preoccupation.

We may have plans and ambitions, but we need to remember that it is God who should be directing us and not the other way around.

Those whose path through life has little room for God find that that in which they have trusted will fail them.

How much more the one who distorts his view of God so much that while he thinks he honors God, his trust is really in himself.

Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. - Matthew 6:2

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