I have recently read two books for my devotional time in the morning. One of these books is by Jennie Allen, and this book is called, “The Lie You Don’t Know You Believe.” This book was all about how there are certain lies we as people, especially women commonly believe about ourselves. These common lies are that we are worthless, helpless, and unlovable. Jennie personally struggled through the lie of feeling worthless. When people believe the lie of being worthless, these are often people who shut down or they are the ones who will try to work extra hard to make up for their feeling of worthlessness.
Then the second book is a book by Allie Beth Stuckey called, “You are not Enough, and That’s Ok.” What a title, am I right? It definitely will probably grip people. It also probably sounds like just the opposite of what the book by Jennie Allen discussed. This book is all about how we are not made enough on our own. We are not made to be. We were created by God perfectly, yes, but then sin entered the world. Now we need God to be complete. We need God to be the most productive person we can be. However, in this world of self-affirmation and self-care, we can easily forget how dependent on God we truly are.
I would actually say both of these books do a great job of talking about the same problem, but on the opposite side of the coin. Sometimes we can believe we are worthy just on our own. We can believe we are important and we can do things to make us happy, even when they don’t. Then there are other times we feel absolutely worthless or helpless and unlovable, we still go looking to make us feel whole and complete. Both of these are not looking to God, and both of these are not ultimately the best plan for our lives.
I realized I have believed both of these thought processes in my life. I have definitely felt worthless and unlovable in my life. I often feel bad. My husband, Cole, is always trying to make sure I don’t feel too bad about something I shouldn’t feel bad about. He is good about reminding me to forgive and be less hard on myself. I needed both of these books to be a reminder for myself. I don’t need to believe the lie of being worthless or unlovable. However, I also don’t need to have the mindset of just working hard or making up for any bad thoughts or bad decisions. I need to depend on God for growth and development.
Throughout the Bible, we are reminded of who we are and who God has created us to be. We are reminded of our fulfillment through Christ and not through our own self and through our own decisions. Some of these verses are Psalm 51: 10-13 which says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” This reminds us to depend on God to create in us a new heart, and a new spirit. We are dependent on Him in this, and not on our own.
There are many times we can start to devote ourselves and believe there are other things making us who we are as opposed to God. This can be our relationship status or our job status. It could be our accomplishments such as in exercise or in our other hobbies. This could be in our beauty or in our health. There are many different ways we can try to find ourselves in things of this world as opposed to the Lord. It can be very hard to avoid the temptations of the world and all the world tells us to believe.
The challenge for this week is to spend time being reflective over what you believe about yourselves. I don’t believe we should think bad about ourselves or think we are worthless or unlovable. This ultimately isn’t productive and more importantly, it isn’t what God wants us to feel like. However, on the other hand, we should not think ourselves completely worthy of everything just on our own merit. There is a healthy balance to find. One that can really and truly, only be found with God. This is spending time focusing on God and His importance in life.
Colossians 3:23 Blog 