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The Captivity of Self-Deception

There are non-Christians that do not have freedom to act because they are held as prisoners of Satan (2Tim 2:26). However, there is also a sort of captivity in which Christians can find themselves. Hypocrisy is one form of a mental construct that binds one to a path that is distant to truth. Like an actor that becomes “lost in his part”, a Christian can act consistent with the image he wants to project.

The term “cognitive dissonance” was coined to describe the mental construct we build to define what we do as reasonable or even noble. Similar to hypocrisy this is also a self-deception. Perhaps one of the least appreciated self-deceptions comes about from the affirmation one gets from doing or thinking what others are doing or thinking. In high school this is called “peer pressure”. However, it is a dynamic that is present in almost every social environment, even churches.

The social grouping in high school tends to illustrate how powerful it is to identify with a group. One can adopt an identity almost as if one were putting on a costume. These adopted roles also come with mental constructs that influence what we think is important and even what is right and wrong. The executive that disparages a competitor for a promotion, the salesman who misrepresents his products, or the researcher who fudges his results are all examples of the lengths one can go to in order to secure the results they feel they need.

The Christian is called to a sort of mental house cleaning.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. - Romans 12:2-3

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: - Philippians 2:3-6

It is understandable why so few Christians undertake this sort of mental reconstruction. There is much comfort derived from the familiar. The anxiety from even questioning much less changing a mental outlook can be strong. As one grows in truth and can see old constructs as harmful as well as the benefit to a new construct aligned more with Christ and truth, making changes can be less stressful.

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. - Ephesians 4:22-24

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