It really began in the Garden of Eden—the distorting of God’s Word. “Did God really say…?” Throughout history, life has been distorted from what God intended. Humans were intended to live in Paradise, but instead ended up living upon ground that was cursed.  When God brought Israel up out of Egypt, he intended them to live as holy witnesses for him among the nations. Instead, they exchanged holiness for idolatry, and adopted the customs of the nations to whom they were to be an example of what it looked like to be God’s people. God was to be their king, but they instead desired a human king, like the other nations, to rule over them. 

And on through history, that distortion has continued. The Church was intended to be a community of love, but it broke into many institutions governed more by regulation and legalism than love, and more by tradition than the Scriptures. It was intended to be unified, but it broke into many denominations and sects, separated by discord and self-righteousness. It was intended to go forth as witnesses to the world, but more and more became isolated from the world it was to reach. And in more recent times, love has been defined as affirming what anyone does, hate is acceptable as long as it is expressed toward those who stand for what we think is wrong, and being a Christian is disparately defined as someone who has prayed the sinner’s prayer, a person who has a certain set of beliefs, and a person born into a family who parents professed to be Christians. 

Since Creation, Satan has sought to distort God’s Word and he has been incredibly successful at it. He has sought to confuse us, to distract us, and to call into doubt what God says about how we are to live our lives. Only Jesus could see through the distortions; thus, it is only by divine guidance that we can walk the narrow road that leads to life without straying from that path because our thinking has become distorted.

I have strayed into distorted views a number of times in my life, and I have looked back and marveled at how I could have looked at certain things that way. None of us are immune from distorted thinking, and often our thinking can go from a distortion on one side to another distortion on the other. The enemy really doesn’t care what form the distortion takes, just as long as it is out of alignment with God’s Word. For instance, you could come from a very legalistic past, and you thought through that lens for a long time. Then you decided this wasn’t right, and you became an advocate for seeing God as loving and accepting, and thus people can do whatever they feel is right. Both views are distorted. Legalism is performance-based and lends credence to the idea we can earn our salvation, which we can’t. Yet, the Scriptures do not say than we can do anything we want without consequences.  So, either distortion is fine with our enemy.

The key to overcoming distorted thinking is to implement the spiritual disciplines of Scripture reading and study, prayer, and humility into our daily lives. When Satan tempted Jesus, how did Jesus respond? By reciting the Scriptures. Paul describes the Word as a sword—both an offensive and defensive weapon. We can’t use it if we don’t have it with us when the enemy comes to face us. Many of the openings for distortion come when we are anxious or afraid. Instead of relying on the Lord, we instinctively rely on ourselves or someone else. Yet, Paul encouraged the Philippians to rely on the Lord when anxious times arise. Another opening for distortion is through our pride. We trust our judgment and think we know more than we actually do. Remaining humble before the Lord, recognizing our immense limitations and weaknesses helps to make us dependent on the Lord rather than independent from him.

Distorted thinking is rampant among those who profess to be Christians. We are often more influenced by our culture, by our peers, and by media personalities than we are by the Lord. Our greatest protection against distorted thinking is to rely on the Lord to teach us what is true and right. This can only happen when we are in his Word, we’re committed to prayer, and we have a humble and teachable heart.

© Jim Musser 2021 All Scripture links are from the New International Version, 2011.