The Unexamined Lie: There are “myths” and “tales” we buy into because everyone around us is buying into them.
- 1 Timothy 4:6-7.
- Talk about (v. 7) the idea of buying into myths that everyone around us does.
- Talk about (v. 6) the need to examine even common ideas under the light of Scripture.
Seven Myths And Tales That Everyone Buys Into:
1. “Believe in yourself and you can accomplish anything!”
- John 5:19; James 4:14.
- Wrong: You are a finite human being capable of accomplishing relatively little outside of the power of God.
2. “The American Dream is the good life.”
- Luke 12:15; John 10:10.
- Wrong: The good life is not a life of material prosperity, but one of spiritual abundance.
3. “My good outweighs my bad.”
- John 8:24.
- Wrong: We severely underestimate our sinfulness if we think that at Final Judgment our good will outweigh our bad.
- Wrong: We’re wrong if we think that’s the way that God judges: seeing if the scales of our good and bad tip one way or the other. In truth, the Bible tells us that our first sin puts us short of the standard that God demands of us.
4. “Family first!”
- Matthew 6:33; Matthew 22:37.
- Wrong: As great as family is, our first priority should not be our family; it should be God.
5. “Education is the answer to our problems.”
- Romans 3:23.
- Wrong: Education is wonderful and a good thing, but it’s not the answer to our problems. It often just creates smarter sinners. Ultimately, our societal problems are not education problems; they’re spiritual problems.
6. “Live so they’ll say good things at your funeral.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:10; Hebrews 9:27.
- Wrong: You’re focus should not be on what people will say about your life, but what God will say about your life.
- Wrong: The goal of what we do should not be to have people say good things about us – that opens wide the temptation to do it for people’s attention.
