Top 4 Religious Myths
1. “I guess God gave me this because He knew I could handle it.” The fact is, we CAN’T handle it. Every trial and challenge is allowed for us to experience moment-by-moment communion with God. He knows who can effectively “handle it”-Jesus. We don’t understand the power of God until He’s all we have. We can know He’s after so much more here. He wants us to come to the end of ourselves and lean on Him. Then, He can move on our behalf.
2. “God helps those who help themselves”. This is one saying that is actually utterly OPPOSITE. We can’t help ourselves because we cannot save ourselves. Jesus never need die if we could, in fact, help ourselves. If anything, we are helpless. God delights in that moment when we cry out, “God, I can’t do this anymore! I need you to help me!” Then, the Father can activate His power.
3. “God doesn’t listen to my prayers.” Typically, we say this because He’s either saying “No” to something we want or we have given up praying to a God that seems to ignore us. The fact is, He is overwhelmingly aware of us. He loves us, likes us, & wants to direct us. It startles us to think how much better God knows us than we know ourselves. He knew before He invented time that we would be so loved that He would give His only begotten Son. He listens constantly to us and reacts out of love.
4.”God couldn’t use me because I do so much wrong.” Tell yourself the biblical truth-He wants to use you. Because we naturally weigh our sins , we tell ourselves if the sin quota is reached, God’s done with us. Again, this flies in the face of the previous points . God knew that His Son would come to remove sin and transform the broken human to the victorious human. When He made us, He knew He would have to create an utterly new creation out of death. God wants us to embrace our true identity-not based on merit or mistakes-but on the effective blood of Christ. He makes us acceptable to our holy God and then gives us a calling to tell our story to others. When we doubt, we can ask ourselves, “Did Jesus take care of that sin? Is what He did enough to deal with my mess? Is my sin higher than the power of Christ?” No-it’s so much more-you are not only forgiven but commissioned as His representative on earth. May we speak this truth to ourselves, “God only uses the broken.” Like Paul.
