Deluded

I have a patient that has been suffering for quite some time with delusions. In long term care, nurses track behaviors such as delusions on a flow sheet, to track the times, events, etc., that may show a pattern to the behavior, as well as any interventions that are effective in alleviating the behaviors. Well, for this particular patient, all of the nurses have been marking on the flow sheet that the patient is not having delusions, while, in fact, she is having them daily. Since the behavior was occurring so frequently, it has become "normal" for this patient, so everyone else just grew accustomed to it and forgot that it was an abnormal behavior.

So, I had to spend some time educating the nurses on what constitutes a delusion, so that our documentation will improve. According to my dictionary, a delusion is "1. a false notion or belief. 2. a fixed belief maintained in the face of indisputable evidence to the contratry." This definitely fit my patient. I can't share my patient's details, but an example would be when a patient believes that aliens are talking to them through the television.

All this focus on delusions, and the review of the definition made me think about life in a spiritual sense. I remember a Bible verse that says, "...They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness." 2 Thessalonians 2:10 - 12.

I wonder about those of us who go about living life apart from truth, following the lies of the world: "We are just a product of evolution," or "He who dies with the most toys wins", or "I am really busy with work, family, etc. but I will have time for God later", or "I don't need God. If I just do good things and am basically a good person, I can make it without him." I have been held captive by those, and others, many times. Are you caught in a delusion? What is holding you back from experiencing freedom in God's truth?