3 Little Lies: About You
There's a lot of lies that Satan wants you to believe.
In this series, we've looked at lies about God, Satan, Pain, and Sin. There's many more we didn't look at, both in the topics listed, and in others. Today, to end this series for now, I want to focus on three lies Satan desperately wants us to believe about ourselves.
1. My worth is based on what I can do, have, who I'm with, etc.
I'm a very driven person.
But I struggle with chronic pain and fatigue.
I have goals, dreams, plans, that I want to accomplish. I write novels, and have plans for how fast I will put them up on Kindle.
And when I don't reach my idea of how much I should get done in a day, I often beat myself up.
Because I too often forget that, while my plans may not be bad, and may have a lot of good in them, how much of them I accomplish has nothing to do with my worth.
Our worth is based in Christ alone. Our value can't increase or decrease, because God has deemed us valuable.
Our worth has nothing to do with how we look, what our job is, or how many boyfriends we've had.
Each of us holds the same value in God's eyes: Jesus's blood. I don't know why, and I can't explain it, but God loved each of us enough to die for us (John 3:16). No where does the Bible say that some people are more valuable than others.
We are all worth the same: precious in the eyes of God.
Now, this isn't a call to laziness (which I definitely can be too!), but we need to remember that, though we want to be diligent and work hard for God, ultimately it has nothing to do with our worth.
2. God accepts me only if I do good.
This kind of goes back to the idea of having to earn your salvation. While Gods wants us to do good, He accepts us just as sinful as we are. Our good works should come from love for Him and awe of His mercy, not because we think He'll reject us otherwise.
Jesus accepted the thief on the cross who repented. He didn't have time to get baptized, let alone do any good works.
Jesus accepted the woman at the well, who had been married five times and was living with a man she wasn't married to.
Jesus loved and accepted everyone of the men He chose to be the disciples. Just peruse the Gospels to see what kind of men they were.
God offers eternal life to us, accepts us even though we're all sinners. It's a beautiful thing called grace.
3. God wouldn't accept me if He knew what I've done.
Maybe you've had an abortion, cheated on a test, spread rumors about another girl...
I'm not even going to start listing some of the horrible things I've done.
I don't know what past sin is nagging at your heart, but I do know two things:
A. God already knows what you've done.
B. God can and will forgive it.
Even on the cross, Jesus wanted those who crucified Him to come to repentance.
Our sins are horrible, but not horrible enough that God won't forgive if we repent and accept His sacrifice for us.
Bonus: I am enough.
I read this wonderful blog post Monday by Aimee Joseph (please go read it, it's that awesome), about this lie. The world would have us believe one of two sides of this same lie coin.
A. I can become enough on my own.
B. I am already enough.
Both are lies.
None of us can ever be enough through our own efforts. And none of us start out as enough.
The only way we can become enough is through Christ.
This one is tricky, because as Aimee mentions in her post, we'll often tell it to each other and ourselves when we're feeling worthless. We mean well. But we've got to be careful, because by telling ourselves this lie, we will never feel secure. True security only comes when we realize that, even though we are never enough on our own, we can become enough in Christ.
I'm thinking about bring this series back later this year, as I have some more ideas for it. What do you think? Any other areas you struggle believing lies?
Thank you for reading my thoughts on these matters. I'd love to hear from you. What are some lies you've believed about yourself? Let us know in the comments!
In this series, we've looked at lies about God, Satan, Pain, and Sin. There's many more we didn't look at, both in the topics listed, and in others. Today, to end this series for now, I want to focus on three lies Satan desperately wants us to believe about ourselves.
1. My worth is based on what I can do, have, who I'm with, etc.
"He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time"
~ 2 Timothy 1:9, NIV
I'm a very driven person.
But I struggle with chronic pain and fatigue.
I have goals, dreams, plans, that I want to accomplish. I write novels, and have plans for how fast I will put them up on Kindle.
And when I don't reach my idea of how much I should get done in a day, I often beat myself up.
Because I too often forget that, while my plans may not be bad, and may have a lot of good in them, how much of them I accomplish has nothing to do with my worth.
Our worth is based in Christ alone. Our value can't increase or decrease, because God has deemed us valuable.
Our worth has nothing to do with how we look, what our job is, or how many boyfriends we've had.
Each of us holds the same value in God's eyes: Jesus's blood. I don't know why, and I can't explain it, but God loved each of us enough to die for us (John 3:16). No where does the Bible say that some people are more valuable than others.
We are all worth the same: precious in the eyes of God.
Now, this isn't a call to laziness (which I definitely can be too!), but we need to remember that, though we want to be diligent and work hard for God, ultimately it has nothing to do with our worth.
2. God accepts me only if I do good.
"For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out." ~ Romans 7:18, NIV
This kind of goes back to the idea of having to earn your salvation. While Gods wants us to do good, He accepts us just as sinful as we are. Our good works should come from love for Him and awe of His mercy, not because we think He'll reject us otherwise.
Jesus accepted the thief on the cross who repented. He didn't have time to get baptized, let alone do any good works.
Jesus accepted the woman at the well, who had been married five times and was living with a man she wasn't married to.
Jesus loved and accepted everyone of the men He chose to be the disciples. Just peruse the Gospels to see what kind of men they were.
God offers eternal life to us, accepts us even though we're all sinners. It's a beautiful thing called grace.
3. God wouldn't accept me if He knew what I've done.
"If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." ~ 1 John 1:6-9, NIV
Maybe you've had an abortion, cheated on a test, spread rumors about another girl...
I'm not even going to start listing some of the horrible things I've done.
I don't know what past sin is nagging at your heart, but I do know two things:
A. God already knows what you've done.
B. God can and will forgive it.
Even on the cross, Jesus wanted those who crucified Him to come to repentance.
Our sins are horrible, but not horrible enough that God won't forgive if we repent and accept His sacrifice for us.
Bonus: I am enough.
"Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned." ~ John 15:4-6, NIV
I read this wonderful blog post Monday by Aimee Joseph (please go read it, it's that awesome), about this lie. The world would have us believe one of two sides of this same lie coin.
A. I can become enough on my own.
B. I am already enough.
Both are lies.
None of us can ever be enough through our own efforts. And none of us start out as enough.
The only way we can become enough is through Christ.
This one is tricky, because as Aimee mentions in her post, we'll often tell it to each other and ourselves when we're feeling worthless. We mean well. But we've got to be careful, because by telling ourselves this lie, we will never feel secure. True security only comes when we realize that, even though we are never enough on our own, we can become enough in Christ.
I'm thinking about bring this series back later this year, as I have some more ideas for it. What do you think? Any other areas you struggle believing lies?
Thank you for reading my thoughts on these matters. I'd love to hear from you. What are some lies you've believed about yourself? Let us know in the comments!
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