In my current book study, Beth Moore discussed an exercise she was practicing at one of her speaking engagements. She told the women to look at their neighbor and say "God loves me." Automatically, the women did exactly what she thought they would do; they instead said "God loves you." Beth called their attention to what they'd done. Let's try that again! God loves me! Many of the women admitted the phrase was very hard for them to say about themselves. Why is that?
This struck me because of how true this mix up really is. I think it is very easy for us to tell someone else that God loves them and has plans for them, but it is so hard for us to believe that truth for our own lives. We believe the lie (Yes, it's a lie) that God loves others more than us. What are some of these reasons?
We believe it because we feel unworthy.
We believe it because we think we do not deserve His love.
We believe it because we think we are insufficient.
We believe it because we think our sins are greater than others.
We believe it because our pride is greater than His love in those moments.
Instead of staying in the lie, we must combat the lie with Truth. Instead of making the gospel about ourselves, we must turn our thoughts to Christ.
* We believe it because we feel unworthy.
We are unworthy. Our sin has made us unworthy. Our fallen nature makes us unworthy of God's grace but the gospel is not about earning or deserving anything. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves worthy. It's about God's love toward us in our sin, and His grace to provide salvation. He made us worthy through Christ.
"We love because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19
* We believe it because we think we do not deserve His love.
We don't deserve God's love. See the previous lie/truth combination. We don't deserve His love because of where we are. We are/were sitting in sin, and He loved us enough to change that!
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us.. made us alive!" Ephesians 2: 4-6
* We believe it because we think we are insufficient.
We are insufficient. We are weak. But we can't stop there. Our insufficiency leads us to turn to Him for sufficiency. We can't save ourselves, but He does it for us.
"For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:10
* We believe it because we think our sins are greater than others.
Sin is great. It's pretty bad. That's always the case. Your sin is equal to the murderer of 17 sitting on death row. We are all fallen together. But where sin is heavy, grace covers that. This lie focuses on trying to save self. We just can't do it.
"As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." Psalm 103:12
* We believe it because our pride is greater than His love in those moments.
Yes, pride. It is pride when we think we are unworthy or undeserving of God's love. Some may think -"Oh but I'm being humble." Nope. That's pride - the thorn I've experienced often. Submit to His salvation and not the lie that you are unworthy.
"Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.' Submit yourselves therefore to God." James 4: 6-7
To be fully YOU, you must deny the lie. Accept and believe the Truth. Follow Him.
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