Skip to main content

Queen of Denial

"But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth."  James 3:14

There was a country music song written back in the early 1990s entitled "Cleopatra, Queen of Denial."  It was sung from the vantage point of a woman who lived in denial about the depressing state of her relationship with her boyfriend.  She gullibly believed the lies he told her and she refused to see the truth that was right in front of her face.  The mantra of the song was, "Just call me Cleopatra, 'cause I'm the Queen of Denial!". 

Don't we all live in denial to an extent?  We might not necessarily deny the truth about the actions of others like the country song, but we'll very quickly deny the implications of our own actions.  I sugar-coat the effects of my actions and in my mind, they're never as bad as they truly are.  My denial has caused me to be blinded to the truth.

I deny the truth that my harsh words or use of sarcasm can hurt people.

I deny the truth that the questionable programing I occasionally choose to watch on TV is inappropriate for someone desiring to live their life for Christ.

I deny the truth that my tendency to lose my cool during times of stress is setting a poor example for my children.

I deny the truth of how many hours a day I spend with my eyes focused on a digital device of some sort rather than sitting eye to eye with friends and family and building genuine relationships.

I deny the fact that I have pent up anger towards people due to unforgiveness in my heart towards them.

What are you in denial about?

Whenever I think about someone in the Bible who was in denial about their actions, I immediately think about Pilate.  Perhaps he comes to mind because we're coming off the heels of Easter, or perhaps because the actions which produced his denial was what sent Jesus to the cross.

Pilate appears to truly see Jesus as innocent of the charges that the chief priests had brought against Him.  He appears to genuinely be between a rock and a hard place.  His conscience was telling him that Jesus was innocent and that the right thing to do would be to release Him.  However, the crowds were very loudly telling him just the opposite.

Eventually, Pilate had to choose a side:  his conscience or the crowd.  Here's the choice he made:
 
"When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere,
but that instead an uproar was starting,
he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. 
"I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. 
"It is your responsibility!"" 
Matt. 27:24 
 
Pilate might have told himself that he was innocent of the blood of Jesus, but that is a very clear picture of living in denial of the truth.  He was no more innocent of the shedding of Jesus' blood than you or I am.  Even though he would like to put the complete onus on the crowds, he played a direct role in the crucifixion of Christ by his choice to allow Barabbas to be released rather than Jesus.
 
Do you ever try to tell yourself that you're innocent of something when really you are as guilty as Pilate?  I think if we're all truly honest with ourselves, we're all Kings or Queens of Denial. 
 
James tells us in our focal verse that if there is sin in our lives, then we should own it.  We can't deny the truth concerning sin and expect God to be honored by our lives.  Also, if we're in denial about the sin that is in our lives, we're obviously not seeking repentance for that sin.
 
As painful as it is to stop and look deeply at the not-so-pretty parts of our lives, that's the only way we will ever face the truth and allow Christ to truly transform us into His likeness.  Since my ultimate desire is to look like Jesus, I must honestly look in the mirror and face the truth.

I pray that you will choose to be honest with yourself about the good, bad, and the ugly!  Ask yourself today:
 
What am I in denial about?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Heartfelt Reflections of a Country Church

The smells, sounds, and people of country churches stir an emotion within me that is deep and powerful. For those who have never had the opportunity to experience this blessed experience, let me explain.   From the moment you step into the vestibule (never called a foyer in a rural church), you instantly smell the footsteps of every person who has crossed that threshold - the mother with a load of kids in tow, the farmer, the truck driver, the wayward child. If those paneled walls could talk, they would tell of grace and guilt and sorrow and joy that couldn’t be hidden on the faces of the souls that dared to cross that doorway. Those walls would write books of clinched fists, tears on the altar, and singing from the saints. The smell of the aged carpet, whose color may have caused an outright quarrel in a business meeting, the creak of the floor, and the golden memorial tags lead you to a nostalgic thing of days gone by - a pew, padded if you’re lucky.   As you wait for the ob...
Post a Comment
Read more

I love my kids, BUT. . . .

"Schoolhouse Rock" was one of mine and my husband's favorite educational past times.  Bob Dorough, writer for "Schoolhosue Rock," was a genius when he put educational factoids to quirky music and cute cartoons.  From the preamble to the Constitution, to parts of speech, multiplication facts, how electricity works, and much more, Mr. Dorough slyly disguised learning and actually made it fun! Like all good parents, we passed this educational relic on to our kids.  One of our favorite songs from "Schoolhouse Rock" is without a doubt " Conjunction Junction ."  Its jazzy rhythm easily gets stuck in your head for the rest of your day ( sorry in advance! ).  This song teaches how conjunctions mechanically work in a sentence and what their purpose is.  The conjunction 'BUT' is one that we use all the time to connect two sentences or a clause to a sentence. "I like pizza,  BUT  I don't like olives on it." "I want to...
2 comments
Read more

Taking the Mask Off

If I’ve learned anything over the last few weeks of wearing masks when going out in public, it’s that wearing a mask makes it hard to breathe.   The trapped air recirculating in and out gets thick and burdensome. The same is true for the invisible mask I wear on the days that I’m trying to hide the reality of what’s going on below the surface.   There comes a point when the air that has gotten trapped between my invisible mask and my unfortunate reality gets so heavy that ripping it off and gasping for a dose of fresh, life-giving oxygen is the only remedy.   ( Cue the proverbial mask selfie that everyone has had to take during quarantine. ) I think many of us frequently wear a mask, intentionally or unintentionally, to hide the reality of what’s underneath. We mask up to present a façade. A watered-down version of the true us. A suffocating misrepresentation of our current existence.  We’re all guilty.  One of my favorite person...
16 comments
Read more