Believing the (a) lie

I wonder if you're guilty of this.  I am on occasion.

I had lunch with a friend and fellow-pastor yesterday.  In our conversation, he said something that I thought about on the way home and through the evening.

Sometimes the hardest thing to believe is what God says is true about you.

If you knew my friend you'd know he's not dishing out swill there.  This isn't "you should feel good about yourself and go on from there."  We were talking about someone in his church that's really struggling.  And out came that statement.

Some lies you might believe about you that come from the Enemy...

I'm not _____________ enough.  Insert your favorite adjective.  Good, godly, skinny, devoted, etc.

Because of my past, there's no way I'll ever be ______________.  Loved, successful, different, etc.

If anyone ever knew about ________, they'd never _______ me.


Those lies come from various voices but the same source.  Here's where the cross is brutally honest with us:

We are worse than we know and more loved than we hoped.

The reason these lies are so prevalent and powerful is because they contain measures of truth.  We are not good, godly, or devoted enough.  Pasts do have influence on who we are and who we're becoming.  There are people who reject others because of the skeletons in their closets or habits in their lives.

But the cross says you're not enough but Jesus is.

But the cross says your past can be cast into the sea and forgotten.

But the cross says freedom comes through confession.


But that's just me thinking thoughts...