God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT
Here’s a fun game. Or maybe depending on the crowd it can turn poignant quickly. It certainly provokes discussion. The host asks, “What’s the biggest lie you ever believed?” As they feel comfortable with sharing, some will be hilarious, such as being confused and disillusioned to discover the Tooth Fairy is not real. Others are hard to hear, as in finding out from a neighbor’s slipup that the person you thought was your 15-years-older cousin is actually your mother.
There are so many lies we believe to our detriment, but one of the biggest for sure is that “Performance equals Value.” This lie tells us that our performance determines our significance with people. We wear a mask of success, performing to appear to be what we believe people need to see in order to value us. That’s harmful and painful enough, but the lie goes even further. It tells us that the same thing is true of our value to God. We need to do enough good works, attain a certain level of perfection, or perform to a high enough standard to somehow make us worthy of being loved and accepted.
The really bad news is that this way of living kills us (2 Corinthians 3:6, Romans 7:4-6). We’re chasing a goal that keeps changing the finish line. “If I do enough, if I achieve a certain level of ______, I might be worthy enough to be accepted and loved by God and others. Then I might be happy and have peace, contentment, joy, and more.” The motivation is fear of failure and shame. Even though we may look and truly be successful by many measures, depression, exhaustion, self-doubt, “imposter syndrome,” hopelessness, a harsh critical spirit toward self and others, resentment – all of these and more are normal results. Peace, joy, and satisfaction are elusive.
The fact that we try so hard does yield some success, so completely unmasking the lie is difficult. But as Paul asked the Galatians, “I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.” Galatians.3:5 NLT
When we solidly grab hold of the massive love and blessings God has given us, we DO thrive on doing good works, but not because we must earn value. It is because we ARE valued so deeply, we can’t help but share. He created us capable and trusted us to do great things!
- I am deeply loved, highly valued, and highly favored by the One who knows me best and loves me most. I have nothing to prove. I have so much to share.