Part One: When Doing for God Replaces Walking With God
While Peter was thinking about the vision, the Spirit told him:
“Three men are here looking for you. Get up, go downstairs, and accompany them with no doubt at all, because I have sent them.”
Such clear instructions on what is happening, where to go, what to do! Peter was not merely active for God. He was attentive to God. His next action flowed from listening and obedience.
The more I read the stories in the Bible like this where men and women moved by God did great exploits for Him, the more I wonder why we do not experience such powerful moves of God in our midst today.
God worked hand in hand with them. He sent angels to warn and rescue them. He opened spiritual eyes to see chariots and horses of fire. He opened prison doors after rulers and those in positions of authority had thrown His people into prison.
He spoke. He directed. He warned. He corrected. He intervened.
Even in the New Testament, God worked in partnership with men and women who listened to Him and obeyed His voice.
When We Stop Depending on God
As I think about one possible reason, I am confronted by how far we have moved from relying on God and looking to Him for direction. We have begun relying on ourselves, on technology and on the many other crutches around us, such as books, people, systems, methods and resources.
There is nothing wrong with these things. But they are incomplete on their own.
Instead of seeking God first, we immediately seek counsel from the sea of convenient resources before us. We make decisions and base our judgement on them. We rely on our own intellect and understanding. We rely on past experiences. We rely on hearsay to form our judgement of others.
God has been pushed into a corner of our lives, merely occupying the occasional quiet time and the quick prayer that is more ritualistic than heartfelt.
At times, our carefully curated lives tempt us to maintain an appearance before others. We attend church regularly and sign up for a myriad of activities so that we appear committed and spiritually mature.
In doing so, we deceive both ourselves and others. We create an outward image that does not match what we know to be true deep within us. Beneath the activity, we bury the guilt that we are not as close to God as our lives appear to suggest.
Since when has burying ourselves in church activities become evidence of spiritual maturity?
When Busyness Becomes a Hiding Place
There is also an interesting psychological dimension to this.
Psychologists sometimes describe a pattern known as avoidance coping or experiential avoidance. This is when we distract ourselves or turn away from difficult thoughts, emotions and unresolved pain instead of facing them.
Constant busyness can become one such distraction.
Busyness is not always avoidance. Work, service, relationships and community activities can all be healthy and meaningful. But activity can also become a shield that prevents us from facing grief, loneliness, shame, fear, inner emptiness or unresolved wounds.
For some of us, silence feels threatening because it brings us face to face with what is happening within us. We therefore fill every available space with work, people, church meetings and commitments.
The danger is that church activity can become a spiritual-looking form of escape.
We may not be pursuing God at all. We may simply be avoiding ourselves.
This is where deception creeps in.
How Deception Enters the Church
The dictionary defines deception as the act of intentionally misleading, tricking or hiding the truth to make someone believe something that is not true.
It includes outright lies, the omission of critical facts and strategic cover-ups. It is often used for personal advantage, manipulation or even self-protection.
And this is how deception can operate right within the church:
We deceive ourselves into thinking that activity is intimacy with God.
We deceive others by creating an outward impression of spiritual maturity that may not reflect the truth of our inward lives.
But we cannot deceive God.
John Bevere describes the fear of the Lord not as being afraid of God, because we cannot be intimate with someone whom we are afraid of, but as being terrified of living apart from Him. It is the awareness that we belong to God and are accountable to Him every hour of every day.
The fear of the Lord brings us out of pretence. It reminds us that our lives are continually open before Him. There is no private version of us that He does not see. He sees what motivates our activity, what we conceal beneath it and whether our outward devotion flows from genuine intimacy with Him.
When we truly fear the Lord, we do not merely ask, “How does this appear before others?”
We ask, “Is this pleasing to God?”
We do not reserve accountability to God for Sunday mornings, quiet times or moments of crisis. We live before Him twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
That is why activity by itself proves nothing.
Activity by Itself Proves Nothing
Here is something many Christians may find surprising.
Even an organisation that openly rejects the worship and authority of God can promote principles such as compassion, justice, empathy, benevolence and service to others. The Satanic Temple, for example, publicly champions all of these values.
Why does this matter?
Because it shows us that outwardly admirable principles and visible good works are not, by themselves, evidence that a person or organisation is led by God.
People can speak the language of compassion while rejecting the God from whom true goodness flows. They can pursue justice while defining justice independently of Him. They can serve others while remaining committed to personal sovereignty rather than surrender to God.
This should awaken us, particularly within the church.
Compassion is important. Justice matters. Service matters. But none of these can replace knowing God, submitting to Him and obeying His voice.
Paul makes this even clearer in 1 Corinthians 13.
He says that even if we speak in the tongues of men and angels, understand mysteries, possess great knowledge, have faith that can move mountains, give away everything we own and even surrender our bodies, but do not have love, we are nothing and gain nothing.
That is sobering.
A person can be gifted, knowledgeable, sacrificial, active and even outwardly impressive, yet still be spiritually empty if love is absent.
Activity can look powerful.
Sacrifice can look noble.
Knowledge can look mature.
But without love, it is noise.
Without love, it is nothing.
Without love, it profits us nothing.
Biblical love is more than outward kindness. It flows from God, rejoices in truth, seeks the good of others and reflects the character of Christ.
So the issue is not simply whether we are active.
The issue is what our activity is flowing from.
Is it flowing from intimacy with God?
Is it flowing from love?
Is it flowing from surrender and obedience?
Or is it flowing from pride, image, fear, self-protection or the need to be seen?
Activity without God is not spiritual maturity.
And activity without love is nothing.
We must not be deceived by outward appearances, familiar language or visible works. Spiritual maturity is not simply about what we do. It is about whether we know God, depend on Him, submit to Him, love as He loves and obey His voice.
Deception Begins Within
Proverbs 17:20 says:
“One with a twisted mind will not succeed, and one with deceitful speech will fall into ruin.”
Deception begins within before it appears in our words and actions.
A twisted mind bends the truth inwardly. Deceitful speech then presents that falsehood outwardly.
What begins as hidden compromise eventually works its way into the words we speak, the impression we create and the life we present before others.
The Truth Beneath the Activity
Ananias and Sapphira engaged in what appeared to be a deeply spiritual act.
They sold property and brought money to the apostles. From the outside, they appeared generous, sacrificial and committed to the work of God.
But beneath the activity was deception.
They wanted the recognition associated with complete surrender without being inwardly truthful before the Lord.
Their minds had already twisted the truth before their mouths spoke the lie.
They wanted to appear more surrendered than they really were. They pretended to be more spiritual and sacrificial than they were, but the Holy Spirit saw through the appearance.
He saw every thought, every word, every motive and every action.
They may have believed they could deceive the apostles and the church. Perhaps they had even deceived themselves.
But they could not deceive God.
Their deceitful speech led them into ruin, just as Proverbs warns. When they reinforced the lie that they were living, they faced the consequences of their dishonesty.
They both fell dead.
This is not an Old Testament judgement from God, folks.
It happened in the New Testament.
And it should make us shudder.
We Cannot Deceive God
We may deceive ourselves.
We may deceive others.
But we cannot deceive God.
He sees beyond every appearance. He exposes what is hidden, judges what is false and brings to light what has been done in darkness.
God may not expose every deception publicly or immediately. But His silence must never be mistaken for His approval.
A twisted mind will not succeed. Deceitful speech will fall into ruin.
The lie may appear to work for a season. It may protect our image, gain us recognition or help us maintain a position.
But deception always carries within it the seeds of its own destruction.
People see the activity.
God sees the heart.
People hear the words.
God sees the mind and motive behind them.
People see visibility, generosity and involvement.
God sees whether we are truthful, surrendered and obedient to Him.
The question is not simply, “What am I doing for God?”
The deeper question is, “Is my outward life flowing from an inward walk with God, or is my activity concealing the truth of what is happening within me?”
Why I Write This With Such Conviction
You may wonder how I can write about this with such certainty.
It is because I have walked this path of self-deception for a long time without fully recognising it.
The brokenness of my past drove me to seek validation in people and places outside of God. I buried myself in activity because it helped me feel useful, significant and even spiritual. Outwardly, I was doing many things. Inwardly, I was often running from the deeper work God wanted to do in me.
But God, in His mercy, called me away from it.
He called me away from striving, from seeking my worth in the approval of others and from using activity to fill places that only His presence could reach.
I am learning to be content simply being where He has asked me to be, doing what He has asked me to do and trusting Him with the outcome.
It took many years of pain, wrestling with God, growing, learning, unlearning and relearning to come to this place.
Even now, I am still growing.
I still need the grace of God to take hold of me and lead me back whenever I am tempted to stray. I am not here because I mastered this journey. I am here only because His grace has carried me, and continues to do so.
My friends, no Christian is exempt from this.
We read about leaders falling, including church leaders, and it should sober us. None of us is beyond deception. None of us is immune to pride, woundedness, self-reliance or the desire to be seen.
We all need the Lord.
We need Him to search us, expose us, correct us and keep us close.
Only by His grace can any of us remain standing.
Prayer
Search me, God, and know my heart.
Go beyond the words I speak, the activity others see and even the explanations I give myself. Enter the deepest places within me and reveal what is truly there.
Test me, Lord, and know my anxious thoughts. Show me where fear, insecurity, pride, pain or the need for approval has been driving me. Expose every lie I have believed, every false image I have protected and every place where I have resisted Your truth.
Strip away every pretence.
Give me the courage to see myself truthfully. Let what You reveal lead me into honest confession and deep, heartfelt repentance.
I do not want to hide from You, Lord. I do not want to defend what You are asking me to surrender. Bring everything hidden into Your light, not to condemn me, but to cleanse me, heal me and set me free.
Lead me in the way everlasting.
Teach me to walk closely with You, to listen before I act and to let every outward expression of my life flow from inward surrender.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.