A covert narcissist can hide very effectively a wicked heart while appearing wonderful to those who don't know the signs or those who have never confronted them about sin.
Do not be fooled, appearances are very deceiving! Actors and actresses lie for a living. They can make us believe they are people of stellar character in a play or movie while living like rebels and heathens in real life.
Politicians are this way too. Far too often people rely on appearances and words to discern the truth about people They miss the clues because they are choosing to follow their desired feelings about someone rather than seeing the clues.
It is the targets or those closely associated with these covert types who can tell you the truth about them.
Sometimes we are shocked that someone was arrested for crimes because all we saw in them was the false persona of virtue they allowed us to see.
Luke 6:45
"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."
Know this, that eventually the authentic heart of a covert will emerge when they become too weary to keep up the pretense any longer.
Those who are coverts can become born again and cleansed from their sin of pride. This is our prayer and our hope. Just as God forgave and cleanses us, they too can experience the same thing, it is their choice.
Ezekiel 36:26
"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."
Trudi mentioned on her status today the story of the prodigal son and how wonderfully the son repented and the father took him back. A success story we all dream about.
One thing many people fail to notice too is that there were two prodigals in that story. The one that stayed and the one that left.
The older one who stayed did it out of duty. He was jealous for the repentance of his younger brother and refused to come to the celebration when his father wanted him to come. He refused to acknowledge the repentance of the younger brother, he had bitterness in his heart.
Many of you have experienced this in your families. Your siblings saw the sin in your life as you were younger, but will not see the change Christ made in you after trusting Christ.
There is jealousy that keeps these siblings in bondage. As long as they refuse to see the difference in you, the miracle of God's salvation in you, there cannot be a relationship.
There is no peace and joy in those who love to hang onto the sin that used to be but has not been for many years. The gossip continues, the lie that keeps them bound up in their own sin of pride may be an indication that they are not born again.
Born again believers are excited when someone has changed and when their life has demonstrated one of service to God.
We see this choice to believe the old in non-believers, but it is very hard to understand in those who claim to be "Christian." I have even had non-believers express the change in a new believer, how much more should a born again believer notice it.
2 Corinthians 5:16-18 "…16 So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:…"
How could my present sin be covered when Christ died 2000 years ago. This could only be true if His blood shed then covered my sin now. Therefore it is sensible to realize that Christ's sacrifice covered future sin then and still does now.
David Novitsky said:
"Anyone who tells you that only your past sins were forgiven at the Cross still has scales on their eyes and should not be teaching the Bible."
We warn to help, in case you were thinking we were just enjoying misery.
Ezekiel 3:18-19 "18 If I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die ,’ but you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, and I will hold you responsible for his blood. 19 But if you warn a wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness and his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved yourself.…"
Those who do not want to be helped will rage as well as ignore us, their reaction is not our business, that is God's business, leave it with Him.
There are those who might complain that we are too negative always correcting, instructing and exposing error and false preachers.
My answer to them is this; we live in a very wicked world in which mankind has stooped to the basest level possible to indulge themselves.
In this time we see apostasy in the church, corruption in the government and broken family relationships, usually for no other reason than the desire people have to elevate themselves by degrading others.
It is interesting to me that many believers can so freely ignore that which angers God, while pampering and comforting those who have mocked him.
We cannot win people to Christ by ignoring the very sin God tells us to warn them about. That makes no sense at all. We do not in others to Christ by treating them with the same closeness that we do Christian sisters and brothers who are in obedience to Christ.
To act overly friendly and accommodating to those who hate Christ is to diminish Him. After all, He hates their sin and their rebellion against Him Yes of course we do not treat anyone with disrespect but we do not become close to them the same way we are to our brothers and sisters.
2 Corinthians 6:3-14 "
13As a fair exchange, I ask you as my children: Open wide your hearts also. 14Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? "
Being overly friendly to the point of affirming everything they do is to validate the evil that they do.
Isaiah 26:10 "10 Though grace is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly and fails to see the majesty of the LORD."
We warn the unbelievers because we love Christ and the one that we warn. If that person who was warned becomes born again, then they become our brother or sister and are welcomed with great joy into the family of God. That is our ultimate hope in sharing the warnings with unbelievers. We want them to enjoy the freedom and love we do from our choice to become born again.
Our warning often includes the message that we cannot change ourselves. Salvation is so very easy, it simply a matter of saying we believe in Christ, the price He paid for our sin and we want Him to change us into a new creation.
Those who have been changed by Christ because they wanted to be cleansed from sin and saved from hell, are the happiest and most joyful people on this earth. Even impervious to the attacks of unjust people, the believer plods along trusting that Christ has our back no matter what we go through. Hallelujah!!!!
Luke 10:21-22 "21 At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
22 All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
When we become born again the Scriptures are open to us in ways we never knew. The wisdom of God is so much greater than the wisdom of the world, we are filled with overwhelming joy at the learning of it.
We can speak the truth no matter how "negative" the world thinks it is and remain joyful because our hope is beyond this world. We await something far greater than our minds can imagine and it is coming soon for us.
Hallelujah!!!!
When someone forgives to make themselves feel better but not to reconcile a relationship it is superficial and of little value. Since forgiveness is cheap these days, without required confession, no one really values it.
Forgiveness in our culture is nothing more than words to elevate self, without any sense of a reconciled relationship, it has no value for spiritual growth or deeper relationships.
Its sort of like cheap grace, in which people think they will gain heaven by speaking words, but have no desire to be changed by Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:16-18 "…16 So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:"
A reconciled relationship is based on one party confessing sin and the other forgiving them. Without both elements words just fall to the ground without anyone changing anything.
The WAY one thinks will determines their response to every situation.
If someone is invited to a meal by someone whom they do not like, the guest will be critical of the food, the table settings, the decorations and everything else that goes on in the gathering. That person will be seen as all bad and completely inept.
Those who are born again believers ought to move past their prejudice toward someone to maintain a stance of respect and objectivity in spite of their feelings.
Someone who cannot validate in any way the one for whom they have contempt, is walking in pride obeying their feelings rather than rational evaluation. They often act as though they are enjoying their evil feelings of superiority. This person is to be avoided, they bring only chaos to any relationship.
Those who treat others badly, whether covertly or openly, are demonstrating deep contempt merely because they desire to appear superior.
When we know what we were before we became born again and what we would still be without Christ, we could never treat someone else disrespectfully or contemptuously simply to elevate self.
And, yes, I do question the salvation of those who have not changed in all their years as a Christian. When we become born again the fruit becomes evident to all who want to admit the change in us.
There are those in our lives who do not want to admit that we have changed, because they have not changed. Remaining exactly the same after 40 years of church attendance is a very big clue that the one who does not change was never born again. There are many of these in the church today. A further clue is that when challenged on scripture to obey God, these people become angry and vengeful.
Those who question themselves saying, "I wonder if I am a selfish fleshly person", are likely not that, because a narcissist would never question themselves, they would refuse to look at themselves in truth.
Those who question themselves in a desire to grow spiritually are the ones who WILL grow, they WILL progress because the Lord loves to give us what we want when it aligns with His principles.
James 1:4-6 "…4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."
May those who walk in pride repent and may those who seek the Lord be blessed with great wisdom as they obey what they know from the Word.
