Does God really love me…after all the mistakes I’ve made? Can He really forgive me? What if I’m not good enough…is He ashamed of me?
Doubts like these creep into our thoughts, whispered by the enemy of our souls, attempting to destabilize and shame believers. When we hear these fears, Pastor Lance Hahn reminds us to return to what we know is true–the word of God.
There are seven things God says about you:
- You are a child of God. When you get the chance to have the Lord come in your life, you’re given the right to become sons and daughters of the one-and-only everlasting God! (John 1:12)
- You are forgiven and living in a perpetual state of family-hood or grace. (Ephesians 1:7)
- You have a purposeful and effective life because of the Holy Spirit. (John 15:3-9)
- You have a glorious future–even better than our present. (Jeremiah 29:11)
- You are permanently indwelt by God himself in the Person of the Holy Spirit. (1 John 4:13, Romans 8:11)
- You are abundantly blessed in your daily Christian life. (Ephesians 1:3)
- You are dearly valuable to Him. (Romans 5:8, Jeremiah 31:3)
Just let these incredible statements sink in–the rock-solid, unchanging truth of our identity in Christ. This means we aren’t called to “obey our way” into God’s grace, and doomed to inevitable failure at being “good enough” for a perfect God. Lance expands,
“Religion says you need to obey in order to get an identity. It’s really the reverse: God is our Father and He initiated our relationship. He gives us an identity, and out of who we are, we can lovingly and abundantly live out obedience, as opposed to trying to live a performance-based life just to get a hearing from God. It’s so soothing to realize that He’s not expecting us to become something He hasn’t meant us to be.”
Being anchored in the truth of who we are empowers us to live in what Lance calls the “overflowing principle.”
“God does not ask us to scrounge up or conjure up things we don’t have. We are commanded to live off the overflow (of what He’s given first).
“For example, God says ‘I want you to love your enemies.’ He would never say that if He hadn’t loved us so much that we were filled, from the bottom to the top, overflowing with love, that we could then love our enemies. He would never ask us to forgive our enemies if He had not forgiven us of so much, that we just overflow in forgiveness. He would not ask us to be patient unless he had been–from the beginning of our lives all the way until now–so that we’re overflowing.”
The Christian life is not about just trying harder and making it up on your own. It’s not about being “good enough.” It’s simply that our God has so lavishly filled us that we’re living out His goodness, His love, His mercy, from the overflow.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
Lance Hahn has been the Senior Pastor of Bridgeway Christian Church in Rocklin, California since 1997. He has been obsessed with learning and teaching God’s word deeply and accurately since he was 16 years old. Outside of teaching at Bridgeway, he is an acclaimed speaker, love to write articles, blogs and books as well as partnering with God to unite the churches of the Sacramento region.
He’s the author of How to Live in Fear: Mastering the Art of Freaking Out and The Master’s Mind: The Art of Reshaping your Thoughts