The Lie: You Must Become Pt 2

The Vicious Cycle

            The lure that brought Eve—and us—into this self-centered reality traps us in a vicious cycle. The Enemy still uses this same strategy. He plants a lie in our minds that creates a vacuum in our hearts, giving the world an illusory, idolatrous appearance that confirms the lie. Out of a hunger the lie itself created, Eve suddenly saw that “the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise” (Gen. 3:6). Her perception of the tree as “desired to make one wise” confirmed that she needed something to be full. Yet, as we noted in chapter 7, she never would have viewed the prospect of disobeying God as desirable if she hadn’t already believed she was deficient—which is to say, if she hadn’t already accepted the serpent’s lie about herself and God.

            The vicious cycle is repeated in every lie we believe that underlies every sin we commit. And it is this cycle that keeps our empty selves rather than the fullness of God in the center of our world. Believing a lie, we judge God to be untrustworthy or inadequate to fill us with life. Our judgment then blocks God’s fullness and makes us feel empty and on our own. Our emptiness in turn makes other things seem like viable candidates to fill us. Things like religion, sexual pleasure, fame, riches, and power take on an illusory god-like attractiveness to us when viewed with the hungry eyes of our vacuous souls.

            Indeed, our emptiness often makes it seem as though these candidates actually fill us. Because of the power of the delusion, these idols can at times create a momentary sense of fullness, life, and worth. But they are never truly satisfying and are never permanent. Hence, the cycle has to perpetually repeat itself, and it will do so until the lie about God and about us is broken and our hearts are freed from their idolatrous cravings.