Lies, lies, lies…our lives our filled with them. We tell lies, we are told lies, we live lies, and we believe lies. Our enemy, Satan, is the father of them all. This summer it was revealed to me that I had been believing a lie without even realizing it; and my spiritual life reflected that belief.
Growing up in a Christian home, school, and church, one could correctly assume that I didn’t lack for spiritual leaders in my life. I had people speaking Biblical truth into my life on a daily basis. Still, I somehow felt overlooked. I wanted someone to really want to KNOW me and invest in the person I was becoming. There were many people I hoped would fill this role in my life, but it always seemed like they needed to invest their time, energy, and love on kids with bigger issue in their lives. I never really blamed them for that. I understood there were bigger needs and they viewed me as a “good girl” on the right track. Satan used that feeling of being overlooked to plant a lie that would grow without my knowledge; I began seeing my relationship with God the same way.
My faith was steadfast. I wasn’t going anywhere and God knew that. I wasn’t going to leave the church or my faith. Because of this, it was logical to me that there were others who simply needed His love and presence more than I did.
As a result, I felt as if God didn’t have time to really invest in me. I was well aware of the deep, close relationship many of my friends experienced with God, but I didn’t have it. I told myself it was because God needed to show himself in amazing ways to people with bigger issues and harder pasts; others who needed him more.
In June I heard a teaching about the lies that we tell ourselves. The next morning during my quiet time, the Holy Spirit lovingly corrected my false picture of my Heavenly Father. He taught me that his boundless love doesn’t need to be invested sparingly, that I didn’t need to experience deep struggle to know the depths of his love.
See, people often wrongly think that you need to do good in order to earn God’s love. I was fooled into thinking just the opposite, that I was too stable to demand his attention. People have to pick their spots. They only have so much love to give. This isn’t true of our heavenly Father. Psalm 36:5 says, “Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.”
This lie I had been believing had been a barrier, preventing me from drawing closer to Him. I am so thankful to be free of this lie, and to be experiencing a truer relationship with God.
I encourage you to examine your own heart and see if there is any lie that is keeping you from the beautiful friendship that Christ desires with you.
– Leslie Thorngate