Does the Bible say to “Ask Jesus into your heart”?

There are sayings and expressions that people use without even thinking about what they are saying. Expressions such as; “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse”, or “I’m starving!”

If we are being honest, no, we are not starving and if we were, eating a horse is not what we are thinking of doing!

For many years, I have heard the expression that people need to “ask Jesus into their hearts”. The same expression is sometimes phrased, "Ask Jesus into your life", or "Invite Jesus into your heart".  

Personally, I can’t find this in the Bible. Instead, I find that the Bible says, "…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31)  

Romans 10:8-13 says nothing about 'inviting Jesus into your heart': “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): ⁹ that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”^{[c] 12} For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. ¹³ For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

So, where did we get the idea that people need to “ask Jesus into their heart”? I think that the idea comes from several religious tradition, that don’t come from the Bible, handed down through well-meaning teachers. Anglo-American Puritans and evangelicals in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries used the phrase “receive Christ into your heart,” or something like it, with some regularity.

Another one of these religious traditions taught that we have a ‘door to our heart’ that has a latch on the inside but not on the outside.  We are taught that Jesus Christ is knocking on the outside but cannot come in unless we unlatch the lock from the inside of the heart.  The Bible teaches no such thing.   

Where else does this idea come from? It also can be seen in stained glass set beautifully in church buildings. I personally think that some of this comes from people seeing either of the two allegorical paintings of Jesus Christ standing at the door knocking painted by William Holman Hunt or the one painted by Warner Sallman.

What about Revelation 3:20?  ”Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

“Doesn’t that refer to the ‘door of our heart’?” I say, “No”. Take time to read the context of Revelation 3:14-22. The door mentioned is the door of the church of Laodicea; not a reference to the door of the heart or the door of your life or about salvation. It means to dine, that is, take the principal (or evening) meal or fellowship with the Lord.  

Religious songs are another source of this wrong teaching; songs we sing simply because we like them. In other words we have theology totally based on the words of the song even if they are not scriptural.  

One of these songs is called; "Come Into My Heart, Lord Jesus" which says; "Into my heart, into my heart; Come into my heart, Lord Jesus." This song is sung as people are given the opportunity to "Invite Jesus into their hearts".  

Some scriptural references are misinterpreted because of tradition. Some people will quote passages like Ephesians 3:16-19 “ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— ¹⁹ to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

But it doesn't say ‘ask Him into your heart’; rather it is says; “that He would dwell in your heart by faith”.

Some will say; “But what about John 14:23; “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”

It says, “We” will come and make “our” home with him. I would say this is speaking of the triune nature of God and it is the Holy Spirit who dwells in us when we surrender our lives to Jesus.

Referring to Jesus, Colossians 2:9-10 says “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; ¹⁰ and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power”

When we surrender our lives to Jesus, we are filled with the Holy Spirit; who is fully God as a member of the Trinity and a representative of the Father and the Son.

Acts 2: “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Acts 4:31 “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness”

Acts 13:52 “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit”

Ephesians 5:18 “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit”

Acts 9:17 “And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus, after He completed His work here on the earth, went to be with the Father.

Romans 8:34 “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”

Hebrews 10:11-14 “And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. ¹⁴ For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

John 14:12-17 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. ¹³ And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.¹⁵ “If you love Me, keep My commandments. ¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

John 14:26  “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

John 16:7-15 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹ of sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; ¹¹ of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. ¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

The Bible simply says that we are to believe or trust the gospel message that Jesus paid for our sins by His death on the cross, and that He was buried, and that He was resurrected from the dead.  

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes...” (Romans 1:16a). 

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

We Receive Christ Through Faith
"By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9).

Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for our sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience. We receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of the will.

Receiving Christ involves turning our wills and lives to God and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive our sins and to make us what He wants us to be. The Bible calls this "repentance". What that means is to "change the way you think"; in other words, go another direction- with our thoughts, words, actions; with how we live our lives.

God will only give eternal life to:

1.   Those who are sorry for their sins.

2.   Those who are willing to turn away from what the Bible calls sin.

3.   Those who put their complete trust (have faith) in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished through His death, burial, and resurrection.

When We Receive Christ, we will experience a “New Birth”

So, how do you do you receive Christ?

1.   Stop trusting in your own efforts to please God and begin to trust in what Jesus Christ has already done.

2.   Ask God to forgive you for your sins.

3.   Ask Jesus to take His rightful place as Lord and Savior of your life.

4.   Turn away from whatever the Bible says is sin. NOTE: This is only possible after you have made Jesus the Lord of your life.

You can do this right now by praying (speaking to God) in your own words like this:

"LORD JESUS. I WANT TO STOP TRUSTING MYSELF AND WHAT I CAN DO AND START TRUSTING IN YOU AND WHAT YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE WHEN YOU DIED ON THE CROSS FOR ME. I KNOW THAT I AM A SINNER AND I AM SORRY FOR MY SINS. I ASK YOU TO FORGIVE ME. AND I INVITE YOU TO COME AND BE THE SAVIOR AND THE LORD OF MY LIFE. BY THAT I MEAN STARTING RIGHT NOW, YOU WILL BE #1 IN MY LIFE. I WANT TO TURN AWAY FROM EVERYTHING THAT YOU AND THE BIBLE CALL SIN. I TOTALLY COMMIT MYSELF TO OBEYING YOU; EVERYDAY OF MY LIFE. THANK YOU LORD JESUS"

This new life will continue to grow by:

·        Spending time each day; throughout the day praying and worshipping God.

·        Spending time reading the Bible which is His Word

·        Spending time with other Christians at church, Bible studies, and fellowships.

·        Spending time sharing with others who yet don’t know how they too can get right with God.

"Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved

Control Z

The year was nineteen eighty something and my father-in-law was showing me just how easy it was to use a Commodore 64 Computer. He was convinced that soon computers would be in every home in America.

Personally, I failed to see what the appeal was since it was DOS-based and took way too long to do anything useful. I remember spending an hour or so using command strokes and codes in order to write a program that would show a rocket taking off for about five seconds. That was an hour of my life that I will never get back.

Even when Apple came out, the only usefulness I saw was for writing; even though there were only a few fonts and poor graphics and limited storage.

Printing the finished piece was something that was another lesson in patience as dot-matrix took three minutes to print a single side. Of course back then we were thoroughly impressed by the speed and because we could use a "normal" sheet of paper; including colored paper!

Today, not only are there computers in every home in America, but we can take them anywhere we want because they are small enough for us to carry in our pockets.

And, they come fully loaded to do a variety of daily tasks that include writing, calculating, reading, spelling, translating, researching, budgeting, banking, writing, taking photos, and sending emails. If we lose them they even have a program built in to help us find the lost item.

 

We use them for entertainment to watch movies, television, play games and read books. Do people even read books anymore?

We use them for seeking out the latest recipe to make a last minute dish or meal. They store, record, post, print, and generally make life as we know it much easier. Not less busy; just easier.

One of the carryovers from DOS programming that I still use is the "command" key. One simply pushes the command button along with "C" and it will copy; use it along with "V" and it will paste whatever it was that you copied. To print, one simply hits Command-P and instantly, a printer will print whatever it is on that is on your screen; even from your phone.

 

My favorite button is Command -Z. This is useful when we mess up; all we have to do is tell our computers: Command Z, and it will undo whatever mess we just created. Instantly, our troubles are over and we go back to where we were before the mistake.

One of the places this doesn't work is when you are using Microsoft Project; then you are in trouble. For some reason the programmers wrote the program so that if you delete something, it’s gone forever. Perhaps this is the real revenge of the nerds.

Another place this doesn't work is when you are living life off the computer.

Many times I wished that I had a Command-Z button to push when I was hand writing a letter or writing a note on a birthday card.

Many times I wished that I had a Command-Z button to push when I have filled out a form wrong, or written the wrong name, or spelled something wrong.

Many times I wished that I had a Command-Z button to push when I said or did something that I shouldn’t have done or said.

Many times I wished that I had a Command-Z button to push to go back to before I had messed up my life.

There is a Command-Z button, so to speak, that will wipe out the wrongs that you have done…and His Name is Jesus.

How do you “push the button” so that your wrongs (sins) will be wiped away?

The Bible tells us that we need to repent (which means to think differently or to reconsider):

“Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.” (Acts 3:19 NLT)

The Bible tells us:

“When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross.” (Colossians 2:13-14 Message Version)

NOTE: There will be forgiveness, the slate wiped clean, but there may still be consequences to what you did…

Is That A Barn Swallow?

Many years ago, I worked for a general contractor who had the habit of showing up after a subcontractor made a mistake and hadn't been able to fix it prior to his arrival.

And, most of the time, if he had not seen it, it would have been fixed by someone prior to signing off on the project. This would include everything from a ding in a wall, to wrong paint color, a poor miter cut in a piece of molding, or something not being completed on time.

And, wouldn't you know it, it would be the one thing or area that he would notice as he walked on the job site as he asked; "What happened here?", or "Who did this?"

Needless to say, it would be an embarrassment to the sub who had made the mistake and no matter what he would say, it sounded as though he was making an excuse. 

In time, we as subs found a "trick" that would help us with this problem. We discovered that the general loved wildlife; especially birds. And all we would have to do to distract him (temporarily until the repairs could be made) was to point towards something and ask; "Is that a barn swallow?"

IMMEDIATELY his attention would be focused on whatever direction we had pointed. Usually this would be followed up with a "maybe I'm wrong…" as he feverishly looked to see what we had seen. 

Usually this was enough to distract him and, because he had a short attention span, was enough to redirect him to another area so that the sub could correct the mistake...or cover it up until he could get to the repairs.

In the entertainment world, they call that "sleight of hand" which is a cleverly executed trick or deception. It takes fine motor skills and is used to entertain or manipulate. It is associated with close-up magic, card magic, card flourishing and stealing.

It also can be used to point out the faults of others in an attempt to draw attention somewhere else.

Basically it is a way of saying; "I need you to look over here so that you can't see what I am doing over there."

I have also observed it being used in the church. This includes areas such as sexual sin, addictions, or other habits. By drawing attention or pointing out something that someone else struggles with, we draw attention away from our sin(s).

Sometimes it is a way to distract others until we can deal with an area that we are struggling with. Unfortunately, it is oftentimes used because we have no intention of changing or fixing the area of sin we struggle with.

We do this by categorizing sin into sins that are "bad" or "understandable" and sins that are REALLY bad. In other words, sin we do and sin that "those people do..."

And it’s damning as it separates us from "them" and takes away any hope that their sin is even forgivable. Oftentimes this hopelessness is dealt with by legislating morality in an attempt to feel better about whatever it is that they struggle with.

But the problem is that we may be fooling others, but we are not fooling God; the One who calls sin "sin".

AND WE NEED TO SEE IS FOR WHAT IT REALLY IS; A SLEIGHT OF HAND!

The Bible also tells us:
“You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because He’s such a nice God, He’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but He’s not soft. In kindness He takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.” (Romans 2:3-4 MSG)

The Bible also tells us that

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV)

In other words, just because we haven't done what "they" do, it levels the ground and tells us that we too have the potential of giving in to the same sin! Yes, even THAT sin!

I love how Jesus backs this scripture up by saying;

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:27-28NKJV)

Jesus goes right to the heart and lets us know that ALL of us sin; and that He knows it and is not distracted by our attempted sleight of hand by pointing out someone else’s' sin which we deem as worse than our sin.

In other words; "...all (of us) have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." (Romans 3:23 NKJV). 

And EACH of us will have to deal with our own sin and hopefully receive the gift of salvation knowing that Jesus paid for ALL of our sins. That is unless someone wants to pay for their own sin which equals an eternity in hell until it is paid off.

The main problem is that we forget (those of who have been forgiven) that we didn't fix our sin problem; Jesus did!

“It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose His temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then He picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.” (Ephesians 2:1-6 MSG)

The real truth is, no matter what sin it is that is in our life, God loves you and me so much that He doesn't want to leave any of us in our sin. 

His grace is available for each of us to reach us, and change us, and to lift each of us out of our sin(s) or any situation...

IF you will turn to Jesus with all of your heart. The rest, He will give you the power and the ability to say "no" to sin through His Holy Spirit.

Rather than using sleight of hand.

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Fallacious Fasting

fasting

1. The act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food.

2. A period of such abstention or self-denial.

3. To eat very little or abstain from certain foods, as a religious discipline.

During this year, Cathy and I have been fasting in a variety of ways.

We are not fasting as a religious or a superstitious exercise; hoping to gain God’s special attention, or to tip the invisible scales of blessing in our direction.

Our goal as a couple (and individually) is to deal with our hearts; which tends to want what it wants. We are longing to have a heart change as we long to be in deeper fellowship with Him.

And fasting things like sugar also has some health benefits such as feeling better and weight loss.

Individually, we have been noticing that when we stop eating something like anything made of sugar or fasting from social media, just how often we go to what we are giving up rather than to Him.

It has been amazing to me how often when my heart is wandering or feeling “blue” that my flesh longs for chocolate; rather than going to the LORD for His help.

It is my observation that too many people fast for wrong reasons. John Wesley said that “some have exalted religious fasting beyond all scripture and reason, and others have utterly disregarded it.”

Fasting is not to be thought of as a means of earning God’s favor or improving one’s status with God. The general purpose of it is to humble the soul before God.

The Bible asks the question in Zechariah 7:5-6 (NKJV):

“Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me? When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?

So it is possible to fast and not really be doing it for the LORD.

My favorite (heart exposing) scripture on fasting is from Isaiah 58. The prophet Isaiah (speaking for the LORD) is explaining to the people how their fasting is wrong. They had been fasting with no apparent success in reaching their goals.

Sounds like you and me doesn’t it?

The LORD lovingly rebukes them in an effort to correct their wrong theology and to share His heart on how He wants them to seek His face in a fast.

My prayer is that as you read Isaiah 58 from the Message version of the Bible, your heart will be corrected in areas where (perhaps) you too have been off during your times of fasting.

Remember, the LORD “did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17 NKJV)

Isaiah 58 

^1-3 “Shout! A full-throated shout!
    Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell My people what’s wrong with their lives,
    face my family Jacob with their sins!
They’re busy, busy, busy at worship,
    and love studying all about Me.
To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people—
    law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask Me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’
    and love having Me on their side.
But they also complain,
    ‘Why do we fast and You don’t look our way?
    Why do we humble ourselves and You don’t even notice?’

^3-5 “Well, here’s why:

“The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit.
    You drive your employees much too hard.
You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight.
    You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do
    won’t get your prayers off the ground.
Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after:
    a day to show off humility?
To put on a pious long face
    and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting,
    a fast day that I, God, would like?

^6-9 “This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
    to break the chains of injustice,
    get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
    free the oppressed,
    cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
    sharing your food with the hungry,
    inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
    putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
    being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
    and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
    The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
    You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’

^9-12 “If you get rid of unfair practices,
    quit blaming victims,
    quit gossiping about other people’s sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
    and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
    your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
    I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
    firm muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
    a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build a new,
    rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
    restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
    make the community livable again.

^13-14 “If you watch your step on the Sabbath
    and don’t use My holy day for personal advantage,
If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy,
    God’s holy day as a celebration,
If you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’
    making money, running here and there—
Then you’ll be free to enjoy God!
    Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all.
I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.”
    Yes! God says so!

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Plausible Deniability Clause

I am always amazed at how much the mind can retain and recall with only a hint to remind of us of an event from long ago. I say amazed because some days I can't remember why I came into the kitchen...one of the many joys of sustaining head injuries.

As I sit in a local coffee shop writing this blog, I thought of one such event that took place in this very building about fifty three years ago when I was eight years old. 

The coffee shop has had three different owners over the past twenty three years. Prior to that, the building had been a pharmacy that I would frequent when I was a young lad.

Periodically, my dad would let one or several of us siblings accompany him as he took a walk from our house to the pharmacy to make a purchase. This trip I was the one who went with him.

When we got to the store, my dad gave me some money so that I could pick out something from the candy aisle. I took the money from him and started the process of choosing an item that would meet the allowance given to me.

In short time, I was able to narrow down the wish list to two items; both which cost the same amount of money. I stood in the aisle pondering my decision. In one hand was a piece of candy; the other hand held a toy.

Both of the items together were twice the amount of money that I was given. So in other words, in order to make budget, I would need to choose ONE because that is all of the money that I had available. 

I'm not really sure what was going on in my young mind as I plotted how I could acquire BOTH items for the price of one.

I suppose I could attribute it to the damage that I had sustained when a few years earlier. I was horsing around and fell backwards off a chair and split the back of my head open on a cast iron radiator; requiring many stitches to close up and I had knocked myself out starting my long history of knock-out concussions.

Standing in the pharmacy, I rationalized that if I ate the candy item, then I would still be able to get the toy; thus paying for one but getting two. So, I proceeded with my plan to take the toy up to the counter after secretly eating the candy outside of the view of my dad or the pharmacist. 

I made my way to the counter to purchase the toy. The druggist asked me if it was just the toy or was it also the candy and made some veiled reference to the candy he had seen me holding. 

I told him that I had decided to just purchase the toy, not the candy; and did my best to look confused towards my dad as though to say; "Do you know what he is talking about? All I have is a toy..."

I had used the "plausible deniability clause". I had told the truth that I WAS only purchasing the toy; but not being honest that I had already consumed some candy without paying for it.

"Plausible Deniability" is being honest that I was only paying for the toy, all the while pretending that because the candy was consumed, therefore, I didn't need to pay for it. After all, how can you charge me for candy that I don't have? Did you actually see me eat the candy? 

‘Plausible’ simply means to have an appearance of truth or reason that seems to be believable, but often times is really deceptive.

‘Deniability’ is the ability to deny something, as knowledge of or connection with an illegal activity.

To this day I am somehow convinced that in spite of by best effort, the pharmacist knew what I had done and yet chose to not accuse me of theft.

And, for those of you who have taken the bunny trail and are now thinking; "Hey, Pastor Tommy, you shop lifted!" I interject that I DID confess my sin to a priest shortly after this experience to make amends with God.

So, as I sit here today writing this blog, I realize that there have been many times in the past when I have also used the "plausible deniability clause" in other areas of my life. 

For example, I have done it when I have changed the conversation as the person I had been talking about (like my boss or parents) came into the room.

Instead of continuing my comments or criticism, I gave the appearance that I had been talking (the whole time) about something else; something edifying and not at all slanderous towards him or her in any way.

Another example would be sneaking looks at someone other than my wife. After all, I only took the first look (albeit it was a LONG look) while I was giving the appearance that I was looking at something else as I made conversation about something in the background such as the sunset or a tree.

Another example would be when I had used a search engine on my computer to look up something that looked to the untrained eye like it was lovely, pure, and wholesome, so that if someone saw my screen, they would think that I was searching something that was OK.

But, inwardly, I was actually so close to the line hoping that something that I shouldn’t see might show up on my screen that was wrong or explicit or naughty. 

I could use the plausible deniability clause by stating that I’m not “technically” looking at pornography; after all it is only Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Amazon, Pinterest, and Tumblr.

Then, I could be shocked at what popped up on my screen…After all, I was just doing research…

But, the truth is that it still opens a door for lust, fantasy, or wasting time online, making it easy to tolerate these “harmless” activities.

Hidden behind the lies that we tell and the things that we do are evidences that our heart is wicked and deceptive and wants to be close to sinning, all the while giving the appearance as though it isn’t doing anything wrong. And, it shows how clouded our discernment can be.

It is no different than what Aaron told Moses that he cast the gold into the fire, and this calf came out. (Exodus 32:24).

Aaron had told the truth that he threw the gold into the fire. He omitted the fact that they had made themselves a molded calf out of the gold to make a ‘god’ for the people who had been grumbling in Moses’ absence.

The Bible says that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

The Bible warns us; ^“evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:13)

And finally, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)

Those verses communicate to me that using the plausibility deniability clause I can not only deceive others, but I can be deceiving myself.

They tell me that I may thinking that I am getting away with something ‘now’, but it will affect the future and how honest I will be.

Now is the time to change the path we are on if we want to break free from this lifestyle of deception and live honest and transparent lives.

Today is the day to look outside of ourselves to the only One who can truly set us free; His Name is Jesus.

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1) 

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2)

Jesus said: … "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free…Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:31 & 36)

Have you had enough of how you have been using the plausibility deniability clause and want true freedom?

Call 1-888-NEED HIM. Someone is waiting to talk with you

All Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.