7 Biblical Steps to Defeat Deceit
The grandmother tried to pull it off … but it appears to be a Kentucky Fried Fraud.
The scenario involves a purported trip to a KFC restaurant along with her precious three-year-old granddaughter, Victoria, who bears acute facial scars from a vicious pit bull attack. After ordering a large sweet tea and mashed potatoes and gravy, the grandmother claims she was told by a KFC employee: "We have to ask you to leave because her [Victoria's] face is disrupting our customers."
Victoria understood exactly what was said, according to the grandmother, and cried all the way home. But it would be just the beginning of an immense emotional outpouring. The story made it onto the Internet and went viral, prompting an angry backlash against the fried chicken chain and a compassionate call for donations that generated more than $135,000 to help pay for Victoria's medical bills. KFC apologized immediately following the "incident" – then called for internal and independent investigations.
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Hundreds of hours were spent reviewing surveillance video and interviewing employees, but nothing and no one corroborated the grandmother's story. There wasn't even an order of sweet tea and mashed potatoes and gravy that day. KFC now considers the matter – closed.
Sadly, it seems little Victoria has become a victim all over again, not from another dog attack, but from a family member's presumed lie. And that lie managed to entangle an entire restaurant chain as well as a well-meaning public who truly wanted to help a traumatized little girl.
Perhaps in some way you can relate to this predicament, probably not to the extent of such a wide web of deception, but you recognize that you have lied to manipulate circumstances to try to achieve your goals and desires. In the end, though, as you may have already discovered, lying always equals loss, never ultimately getting you ahead. Respond to what God's Word teaches to help you break free from the bondage of lying. Follow these seven steps to experience deliverance from deceit. ...
1. Discover God's consequences for lying and His hatred for deceit.
"You [God] destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, LORD, detest" (Psalm 5:6 NIV).
2. Desire complete honesty with yourself and examine your motives.
"Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart" (Psalm 51:6 ESV).
3. Determine to be totally honest with God and admit your failures.
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us"
(1 John 1:8 NIV).
4. Discern your areas of personal temptation. Stop and think before you answer.
"Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips"
(Psalm 141:3 NIV).
5. Decide you want your life to reflect Christ, if He truly lives in you.
"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:29 NIV).
6. Depend on the strength of Christ within you to enable you to change.
"I can do all this through him who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13 NIV).
7. Delight in the truth, which leads to reward and blessing.
"Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy" (Proverbs 28:13 NIV).
Isn't it interesting that many times before Jesus imparted a word of wisdom He prefaced it with ... "I tell you the truth ..." May we … as His followers ... be able to say the same.
