Defeating Deciet, Knowledge is power.

Do we really know enough about the people we say we trust?  Yes?  Think again!  Are these people close to you?  How close?  Yet you trust them.  Trust them with what?  The use of your car or maybe house sitting while you are away on vacation or maybe something more personal like a spouse or child.  It is true, we as a species need interaction with others but to what level and to what degree do we trust them?  Let me give you some thought provoking facts on those we trust but we really do not know them.

Priests with whom we bare our deepest and darkest issues without question and yet you hear the stories all the time in the news about priests who are either tied up in money embezzlement or worse yet sexual scandal.  Then there is the politician who promises diamonds and delivers coal while in office and sooner or later you hear about them being indicted on fraud charges or some other felony.  Civic groups is another good source of someone of whom we place a lot of trust, i.e. Boy Scouts of America, United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Rotary International, etc…

   “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.”
― William Shakespeare

It’s a delicate balance that we must learn to manage in order to make the right decision and to protect not just what is in our best interest but also within our well being.  So as the 16th Century poet (William Shakespeare) stated, “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.  This resonates much along the lines of Matthew 7:12, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

We are commanded by God to love all and to do wrong to none.  I think Mr. Shakespeare may have been plagiarizing a bit but nobody was going to hold him accountable for that one.  Again by following the command of God, this adds to the complexity of the question, whom do you trust?

Those around us will try to deceive us.  As stated in the title of defeating deceit, how do you do this?  You DON’T!  There is NO way possible that you can know whether or not someone is deceiving you.  They can be lying to you every minute you are around them and you’ll never know it.  You can’t eradicate it, but you can manage it and to that point you defeat it.  It’s called keeping your guard up.  Watch much and say little.  Align yourself with those who you feel most comfortable but you must still keep your guard up.  You can also use biblical principle and test to see if they are of the Spirit or not.

Align yourself with as much knowledge as possible about those around you.  Dig into their past and know from where they came (The Internet is a powerful tool).  Too many times you find out (too late) that those who do us harm have a history or pattern of this behavior.  Look at the stories we hear about murderers, thieves, con men, etc…  there are patterns and a little digging can go a long way.  Also listen to friends and family about intuition.  It’s stronger and more believable than what you think.

Case in point – My wife had (past tense) a best friend whom she trusted based on a long standing friendship for more than 20 years.  My wife went through a divorce and the relationship with the friend remained with my wife and the best friend also maintained the friendship with my wife’s ex husband.  When I came into the picture, I was ostracized and kept on the outside looking in with her friend.  I tried on several occasions to show my wife how her friends actions towards me could no longer warrant trust as in a friendship.  It took years for my wife to see and understand this but after many years and many instances, the trust between my wife and her friend dwindled and that trust swayed between my wife and I.  My wife had her guard up and in time it was revealed whom to really trust.

Remember, sometimes we take too long to the point of where we are tore down or physically hurt because we refuse to believe we’ve been duped by false trust.  A good example of this is when a spouse refuses to leave another when the relationship is far over and all trust is broken.

Love All, Trust a Few, Do Wrong to None…..!

Bob~