There is none so blind as them who will not see. John Heywood, 1546

I am just like you. I can see when others are fooling themselves. I can see when others are living lives of self-delusion, self-deception and just downright lies. I can spot a phony in a second. I can analyze his false claims and tell him exactly what's wrong with them. 

For example: I can tell you that those who want to replace gas-guzzling cars with electric cars, but then want to limit the construction of new electric plants, are only fooling themselves. I can tell you that those who want to balance the budget without cutting expenses or raising taxes, are simply not living in the real world. I can tell you that those who want to rehabilitate murderers and rapists and child molesters, instead of punishing them for their heinous crimes, are doing nothing more than putting more innocent lives at risk as these evil people plot their next crime.

However, I do not see the self-deception in my own life very often - do you? How about all of the "special exceptions" that we give ourselves? For example, how many times do we watch a movie that has foul language and questionable behavior, but then justify it because "it has a really good message"? Or, how many times do we cheat our employers of the honest day's work that we are getting paid for, and then get mad when someone cheats us out of a little something or another?

Or, when it comes to our service to God, how many of us want to cling to the Bible's promises of "grace" and "mercy" and "heaven", but then don't believe the Bible's warning's on things like "sin" and "punishment" and "hell"? The fact is that many of us love those who bring the good news of God's good promises, but disdain the narrow-minded and bigoted mindset of those who insist that His promises of punishment are just as real as His promises of reward.

Are we deceiving ourselves when it comes to God's word? We are if we believe in those promises of reward, but not those of punishment. We are if we think that we have found "loopholes" to obedience. And, maybe more than anything else, we are self-deluded, self-deceived and functionally blind, if we believe that the Bible is God's word... but fail to read it. If you find yourself in such a position, what will you do about it? Will you resolve to change, or will you deceive yourself into thinking that the Bible is just what you want it to be, instead of exactly what God intended it to be?

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22, NIV