I suspect that all of us have believed a lie about ourselves for one reason or another. Not just any lie, but one that goes down to the very core of who you are as person; one that has integrated itself into your psyche so well that you don’t even acknowledge it or think about it. The lie says, “I’m not good enough”, or if it has worked its way deeper, “I’m no good”.

There are many reasons why this lie becomes a part of our lives. It could be that our parents were going through a divorce and in our childlike mind we said to ourselves, “Maybe if I am really good and get everything right, my parents will stay together”. Or maybe you were adopted into a loving home, but there is this nagging question in your soul, “Why did my birth parents give me up? Was there something wrong with me?” Maybe you were abused and the things that were done to you made you feel like you were, “no good” not worthy of anything good in your life. Or it may be a lot more subtle than that. Even if we have the perfect life, the enemy of our soul has a way of whispering lies to us and uses the mistakes we make as ammunition against us until the lie gets slowly integrated into our lives.

You see, the enemy of our souls is jealous of the creation. He does not have the power to create life or destroy it. He wanted to be God and to have these powers, and because he does not, he is jealous of God, who does this power. So instead he tries to steal the creation, and what he can’t steal, he tries to destroy. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; ” … – John 10:10a. He does this by trying to get us to destroy ourselves. His only power to accomplish this is a lie. If he can get us to believe the lie, and he does, then he can control us and get us to do things to harm ourselves. If I believe I am no good, then maybe if a bunch of women (or men) love on me I’ll feel ok. If I use drugs or alcohol, then I don’t have to feel the internal pain of the lie. If I mood alter with porn, then I’ll feel ok. If I buy a bunch of things, then I won’t feel so bad. If I get immersed in video games I can shut out the world and don’t have to feel the pain. You know how it goes. As consequences mount and the no good feeling increases, some of us may succumb to the ultimate culmination and objective of the enemy. “Look at you! Who do you think you are! Nobody loves you! You might as well kill yourself! You’re nothing! You’re a mistake!”

The lie can become a very powerful force in our lives, tainting everything we think and feel and keeping us from the full enjoyment of life. It makes us angry, cynical and critical of others. It warps our whole outlook on life. The crazy thing is that it’s a parlor trick, the whole bait and switch. Look over here so you don’t see what I’m doing over there. The truth is, the lie is totally false and irrelevant. It has absolutely nothing to do with how good we are and everything to do with how good God is. Even religion itself falls into the same trap that the lie sets, believing that we are not good enough for God so why bother, to the point of convincing ourselves there is no God. That way we can relax and breathe easy, not having to worry about measuring up to Gods standard. We reject God and all religion because it just seems too hard. A lot of us, deep down, believe that God exists and want to believe He is loving and forgiving, but religion keep telling us the same lie we believe anyway, “We are not good enough”. The reason that religion can do nothing more is because it is an institution run by humans who all believe the lie about themselves at some level.

The Good News, the VERY Good News, is that God’s love, peace, joy, forgiveness and every other gift that comes from God is just that, A GIFT! It’s there for the taking. We just need to accept the lie is a lie and accept the gift as a gift. Christ made it all available, … “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” – John 10:10b, (the second half of the verse I quoted earlier, in case you missed it J). It is just that simple, but somehow we miss it. There are some of you that, when I mentioned Jesus said, “oh great, I was fine until you said Jesus. I don’t want to hear any of that religion stuff. That’s just it! Jesus didn’t come to start another religion! He says why he came right there in John 10:10. It was to give us life to the full. What a gift that is! Do you see it? Do you get it? I desperately hope you do! I desperately hope that I do too!