The River of Deceit

This is one of those songs from back in the days of grunge, back in the 90's and that was my time. I have heard this song countless times but it recently popped back into my rotation for some reason and it had a different meaning to me. One I had never really noticed before. There are two verses in this song sung by the late Layne Staley, in the first he says…

My pain... is self-chosen

At least so the prophet says

I could either burn

Or cut off my pride and buy some time

A head full of lies is the weight

Tied to my waist

The river of deceit pulls down

Getting past the haunting performance and the somber and mesmerizing music this hit me. My pain, my guilt my sin is self chosen. The things we do, the choices we make are not forced on us. We have a choice. And when we make the decision to sin, to do evil we risk not being with God. So we have another choice.

We could either burn. That one is self explanatory or we can cut off our pride. We can let go of the lies that surround us and bombard us every day. Cut off the ties that we cling to that we know to be toxic the things that we know are temptations. The lies that would pull us down. The River of deceit pulls down, the only direction it flows is down.

And then there is the second verse.

My pain... is self-chosen

At least I believe it to be

I could either drown

Or pull off my skin and swim to shore

Now I can grow a beautiful

Shell for all to see

Here we see that our pain, our guilt our sin is something we have chosen to carry.. Or is it? We believe that this guilt is ours to bare and that it is with us and the stains are too deep to be removed and that no matter what we can never be free of it. We let the weight of the lies drag us down deep into the river of deceit.

But we have a choice. And he brings it to light here. We could give up and give in to Sin and drown in it. Or, we can shed that old life. We can let go of all the pain and guilt and we can re surface and be transformed by the love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus and grow into something beautiful that everyone can see.

We can be a new person.

• Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! -2nd Corinthians 5:17

The river of deceit flows down. The only direction it flows is down.

Let the love of Christ lift you out of the deep.

Let his gift transform you into a new creation, beautiful for all to see.

Press on. Fight the good fight. As a soldier for Christ.