Hello everyone! God is so good! He continues to unpack the lies I have believed. This is another build onto my blog from Tuesday, Lies and Deep Wounds. If you have not had a chance to read it, I hope you will as well as Jesus, Our Hope and Poison Antidote, my 2nd build from that original blog.
Today, I want to deal with unbelief in the good things of this life – the end result of the lies we believe. Exactly what do I mean? When we believe a lie about ourselves or about a circumstance, it creates unbelief in our heart that the circumstance or that we ourselves could be different then we are in the moment. We do not believe anything good could ever come out of this moment or that even we ourselves are innately “bad.” Lies try to set up a permanent thought pattern for a very temporary circumstance or emotion we are feeling in that moment. The thought pattern can become our new belief system, if we don’t deal with the lie. I know a new and dangerous thought pattern (e.g. belief system) was developing in my brain and in my heart – a belief system that in the end would have left me lonely and miserable – the part the Liar does not tell you.
I will use the lie I have been set free from as an example. The lie went as follows (you will see both the fallacies in logic as well as its danger): “Marriage is not like “that” (a covenant). There are no men like that. They will all lie to you in the end. Better to keep people, particularly men, at a distance so you won’t get hurt.” I will now take the next paragraph or two to deconstruct this lie. After all, in the Light of Jesus’ love, it wasn’t so clever.
As you can see from reading this, the lie attempts to sum up an entire sex and an entire social construct into one central theme with two thoughts – “Marriage and men are not good. Love is not good and being on your own is best.” This central theme, ladies and gentlemen, is the “new belief system” – the end result of the lie. This central theme, if you would like to read Genesis Chapter 3 in the Bible for yourself, is the theme that has resonated from the Liar since the beginning of time. His central theme is this: if God made it or designed it (e.g. you, animals, creation, men, women, marriage, children, love, friendship, etc.), it is not good. So therefore, you are not good, marriage is not good, children are not good, men are not good, women are not good, close friends are not good, love is not good, and the list goes on. Now here is the problem with that fallacy in logic; how do you explain all the good in the world? How do you explain all the good people, good friends, good personality traits you have, good marriages, children, animals, beautiful scenery and real love? With that logic, one can’t. One has no answer to those questions and thus the hole and fallacy in the lie and the resulting belief system is exposed. The Liar is counting on the fact that in our pain, confusion, or sadness, we will take lies into our hearts that seem logical based on our circumstance or emotions we are experiencing at the time. He is hoping we will never look for the hole or the fallacy in his logic. Once you realize he’s lied to you, he’s lost all of his power over you. The lie has lost all of its power over you as well.
Once I realized I’d been fed a lie, in the midst of my hurt and pain, that lie and belief system had no more power over me. Hence the reason we must always be willing to examine our hearts and let God do his healing work. We must be willing to replace lies with truth. I replaced the lie with truth: Marriage can be like “that” – there can be a covenant that is unbreakable. There can be forgiveness. There are men like that who do love their wives and want to do what is best for them and their families. There are men who will work with you, not against you. All men do not lie. Keeping people at a distance only makes me lonely and I get hurt worse. Isolation will result in the withering and death of who I am. This truth also contains a new belief system. Do you recognize it? Marriage is good and there are good men. Love is good and life-giving, and isolation is bad for me and brings spiritual death. Which belief system would you rather have? I think I want the latter.
Look at your hearts, examine your beliefs. What are they telling you? Are they giving you life or death? Where have they come from and who told you to believe them (yes the Liar uses people to lie and hurt us)? We must constantly assess our belief systems and where they have come from if we are to beat the Liar at his on game. Jesus is our Helper in this as well. He knows our heart and He knows the deep places. He is not afraid of them. He stands ready to heal you. Will you let him?
What lies and beliefs are keeping you from the good in life today? What do you need to let Jesus lovingly deal with today? Don’t be afraid! Life awaits you on the other side of your pain, and on the other side of the lies! Walking in the truth, Elizabeth