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July 5, 2022How Do You See?
September 5, 2022Listen to the Audio Version
So You’ve Discovered You're Believing a lie, Now What?
If something triggers you to believe a lie about yourself, about God, or others, what do you do?
Well, you can do what you’ve always done, just fall into the trap of believing that lie and cope with it in whatever way you’ve developed over many years. Or you could ask; what does God say about this? So what am I talking about?
Let me give you an example. You’ve formed a belief at an early age that you can never measure up. No matter what you do that belief follows you everywhere, it haunts you. In your job, your leisure, in your relationships, and even in your relationship with God. You're never good enough. That’s a hard belief to live with daily. Consequently, you need to figure out a way to cope with that belief.
Maybe you become extremely introverted to avoid that terrible feeling you get when that belief rears its ugly head. Maybe you go out of your way to be involved in everything you can. You try harder than everyone else to prove you are enough. It doesn’t matter which way you go, the result is always the same, frustration. Why? Because you are NOT addressing the core problem, the lie, that you are not good enough. You're trying to change what you believe with behavior modification. It's like telling your doctor, “every time I sit down there is a stabbing pain in my back”, and his recommendation to you is “stop sitting down.” The recommended treatment may work temporarily but it is not practical nor does it address the main problem. What he is saying is, “change your behavior” (stop sitting down) and your problem will go away.
What we need to do is address the core problem. So how do we do that? Well, once we are in Christ we are a new creation, old things are passed away, all things become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 What does that mean? In Christ, we now have the opportunity to begin to do life differently. Our lives are now hidden in Christ. Colossians 3:3 We are now back in right standing with our heavenly Father because of Jesus in us. How God sees us is the only thing that matters now. So how does he see us you ask?
He sees us as perfect in Christ. Fully loved, fully accepted, fully worthy, and completely secure. That means instead of gauging our worth on our past experiences or what people say or do or have done, we measure our worth on what God says. Is this an easy transition? No. It involves a process of renewing your mind to the truth. Philippians 4:8 gives us a list of the things we should think about. But, note that the very 1st item on the list is “whatsoever things are true”. Truth is what sets us free. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. John 14:6
So recognizing that you're not enough is a lie is the 1st step. The 2nd step is making an exchange with the truth. Exchanging that lie for what is true.
God says you are washed, justified, and sanctified. 1 Corinthians 6:11
Completely forgiven, once for all time. Hebrews 10:12
He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Hebrews 10:14
His divine power has granted to you everything pertaining to life and godliness. 2 Peter 1:3
When we partake in this renewing of the mind there is no need for the old ways we learned to cope. We experience freedom.