James 1:16-18 ESV    Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

THE DAY I LOST ALL MY MARBLES, (LITERALLY!)

I was 8 years old and not very wise in the ways of the world. I had a full bag of shiny marbles of various kinds. I was proud of my marbles and enjoyed playing with them. One day a couple of neighborhood boys invited me to play marbles with them. I had never played marbles in a real game before. I’m sure I had “EASY MARK” printed on the back of my shirt. Well, I got a schooling that day. I soon learned the rules and how often they seemed to work against me. One by one my marbles were in the competition’s hands and I was down to an empty bag. I started to leave and asked for my marbles back. That’s when I learned that they were playing for keeps. I spent a couple of miserable days adjusting to the shock, and several weeks avoiding the neighborhood boys. I learned a lesson that I have never forgotten. I was certainly humbled (and maybe humiliated) that day. There were two deceivers involved in that game of marbles. They deceived me about their skills and their motives. I deceived myself, thinking that I knew more about marbles than I actually did. If I seem a little off, it’s because I’ve lost all my marbles.

That is not the only time my hubris has gotten me into trouble. We think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think (according to the Apostle Paul). We seem so sure of ourselves, so confident in our knowledge, so self-assured in our wisdom. We have the 411 and we are ready for the challenge. But we are in for a rude awakening. We often find that we are self-deceived, realizing only too late that the reality we believed to be true is only an illusion of our own making. I tell people often (just ask members of my congregation) that self-deception is the worst form of deception. We are normally suspicious of other’s declarations, but it’s easy to believe what we tell ourselves. What would certainly be proclaimed a bald-faced lie coming from the lips of another person, is entertained as a self-evident truth when we rehearse it in our minds. We tend to believe what we tell ourselves, even as it flies in the face of reality. The simple solution to the problem is to tell ourselves the truth, and to challenge ourselves, to talk back to ourselves, when we try to slip in a lie.

Why talk about self-deception. Well, that’s because James tells us not to “be deceived.” But think about the context. If we think that God is our problem, causing us to trip and stumble into sin, we are wrong, he says. So who is deceiving us, when we think this? Of course, we are deceiving ourselves about the nature of God. Deceiving ourselves in the context falls between blaming God for our problems and refusing to recognize Him for His goodness and acts of goodness. Others may encourage us to entertain these errors about God. But ultimately, we are the ones who are the deceivers, if we believe these lies about God.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above.” God is the source of goodness. He is the “Father of lights”, the creator of the light-bearers in the universe. He doesn’t change, He doesn’t vary, He is “the same, yesterday, today and forever. “Of his own will,” out of His own goodness, He who is truth has “brought us forth by the word of truth.” He in His goodness has saved us. He doesn’t deceive; He shares the truth that “shall set you free.”

His purpose, His intent, is to show through those of us who trust Him what He desires for all of humanity. We are “a kind of firstfruits of his creatures”, revealing the kind of life He can produce in us and the abundant life He can provide for us, if people will only trust Him. Even in tribulation and trials, He can show the power of His grace, when we trust Him. “My grace is sufficient” he tells the Apostle Paul and through him that message comes to us. Whatever you are facing, won’t you trust Him to show you just how sufficient His grace can be?