If you’ve ever been involved in Youth Group, you’ll recognize the title of this blog, named after the ice-breaker game played by thousands of middle-schoolers each year. In this game (for those of you who may have been spared from playing it) a group of people go around the room and share with one another two truths about themselves, as well as one lie. Members of the group then try to identify which are the truths and which is the lie of other members. What’s interesting about the game is that the hardest lies to identify are those most similar to the truth! The outliers are easy to spot and are quickly eliminated. It’s the little white lies and twisted truths that fit almost seamlessly into the honest. In some ways, our world plays “two truths and a lie” with our hearts, souls, and minds every day.
What are these lies? How can we identify them? Aren’t lies harmless to those who know the truth?
While I don’t pretend this post will identify every lie known to human kind, I do want to present a sampling of lies known to individuals fighting addiction. As these people desire and strive to slay their sin on the altar of trusting God, Satan is quick to cut off the wedding-bells in place of a deceiving refrain of half-truths to the new bride.
Lie #1: I can do this on my own.
This lie is similar to the truth in that it acknowledges our responsibility in the transformation process. However, it misses the mark when it assigns ALL the responsibility to us! No matter how hard we believe it, we are not independent persons. Rather, humans are dependent on God for every breath. The Apostle Paul says this succinctly in Acts with the statement, “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). See also John 14:25-26 and Psalm 119:11-16 for more Scripture on our dependence on God for change. In short, we cannot in and of ourselves become and stay sober, clean, good, etc.
Lie #2: If I just want it badly enough….
This hits close to home because we are sensational beings. By that, I simply mean that we “feel” and in so feeling we act. It is much more difficult to act in opposition with our feelings. So, it makes sense that the more you want it, the easier it will be to get it. However, this too is a lie. No one can simply “will” himself to sobriety; no one has the willpower to change. Rather, it is only through the “will of God’s power.” See Colossians 3:16, Romans 6:16-20, and 2 Peter 2:19 for references on our need for God’s Spirit and Power to motivate us toward change.
Lie #3: That will never happen to me.
Here’s the truth in the above statement. You’re right, you may never experience the exact circumstances or repercussions that someone else experienced. You may never become addicted to the same substance as them. Perhaps, you will even escape the same temptation that overcomes them (see 1 Cor. 10:13 for the lie in that statement). You’re right, you’re not them and they’re not you. However, the lie is that your differences will save you. No matter how different you are from someone else, you share the same depraved heart and wicked sinfulness. Sure, you may never struggle in the same way as them, but never forget that each and every one of us has the capacity to sin just as heinously and horridly as anyone else. When we say it will never happen to us, we are setting ourselves on a precarious pedestal of pride, and should anticipate our own downfall shortly (see Proverbs 16:18).
There are many additional lies out there in this world. Not only that, but Satan is continuously manufacturing new lies, albeit from his same, old material.
Stay tuned! Next blog will explore how you can identify the lies in your own life that are different than the ones above.
