Smash Lies
I am not one of those types that sees stuff in his life that he would like to change and complains about it. I want to change it when I discover it and I want to change it by yesterday. That’s just me.
What I find intriguing and wonderful about Christianity is that God wants to change us at a core level; a heart level. What that means is that when we find something in our being that we despise and want to change, we can be certain that God wants to change it also.
The implication of that is wonderful and frightening at the same time. We can be sure that God desires what we are desiring- change us. It’s wonderful because we can be certain that change will happen. It’s not like wishing for a new car or something. Yet it’s frightening because we will be different. God will actually listen to those prayers. God will actually move in our life to change us. Wow!
For the Christian, soul change is both desirable and inevitable.
I think the first step in changing is so simple that I often bypass it; I need to ask God to reveal the things in my life that he wants to change. I pray that the Lord will reveal my false gods/idols that I secretly worship instead of Him.
I am presently reading a great book on spiritual transformation called, “You Can Change” by Tim Chester. It is a short book but his theory on how people change through believing the Gospel is really challenging me to think in different categories. More specifically, his theory has radically changed how I understand negative emotions and sinful behavior in my own life. Here is just a small portion of it:
“Sinful actions always have their origin in some form of unbelief. Behind every sin is a lie. The root of all our behavior and emotions is the heart- what it trusts and what it treasures…This is a radical view of sin. It means that many of our negative emotions are sinful because they are symptoms of unbelief- the greatest sin and root of sin.”
This is a radically different way to look at my struggles, temptations, and negative emotions. Behind every sin is a lie I am believing (whether I love it, or fear it). I trust a false promise instead of the promise held out for me in the Gospel through the Scriptures.
For example:
I lie (a.k.a. hide my real opinion about something) because I want that person to like me or think highly of me. The lie I am believing: that person’s approval of me will make me feel good. I will be “somebody” if they sign off on me/my opinion. Conversely, I will not be accepted by them and consequently be a “nobody” if they don’t like what I have to say.
This is god-like power I am infusing into that person and the “lie of approval”. In that moment, I am trusting the lie over the truth of Scripture. My heart is treasuring their approval over God’s approval through Jesus Christ. This is a sin. This also has very negative consequences on my life.
This applies to most everything we deal with if you think about it: Some depressions, adultery, drugs, work-aholism, pursuit of money or power, inability to commit, rage. So how do we change, assuming we have come to a place where we desire that? Here is what I have come up so far (I am only half-way through the book).
- We ask God to show us the idols we worship/treasure in our heart.
- We find out what is the lie they are telling us.
- We address the lie with the truth of Scripture
Behind every sin is a lie we are loving or fearing.
I don’t want my heart to be a safe haven for sin. I do not want to make allowances for it in my life. I do not want to keep it in check. I want it to die! I don’t want to make peace with sin. I want to make war with it because it is making war with me and wants to celebrate my ruin.
May God give me the courage to face my idols. May God smash them all and make me more like Jesus. Lord, help this hypocritical sinner trust in you above all things. I want to despise what you despise. I want to not tolerate what you do not tolerate. I want to love what you love. I want to trust what you say. Help me do all that I want! Remind me of your grace and forgiveness through it all. Amen.
