If you were to ask me: “Allie, what do you think the number one thing that keeps us from freedom is?” the answer would come swiftly and without hesitation:
“Lies!”
Often, I feel like I could exert all the emotional energy I possess in a given day just fending off the arrows of lies that come at me from every direction; and from every direction they do come!
They come from society as a whole giving blanket descriptions of “who we should and shouldn’t be;” “what we can and can’t do.” They pop up in questions like:
“who are you to think you can….?”
or
“Don’t you know that as a Stay at Home mom you should…?”
They come at us from the people in every area of our lives. They come from the person behind us at the supermarket, all the way to our parents or spouses. And oddly enough, the lies of the unfamiliar can be as powerful and damaging as those from our closest friends and family. These lies come in statements like:
“You are only here because…”
or
“You’ll never get anywhere if you aren’t willing to….”
They sadly sometimes come from people in positions of spiritual leadership leaking their own bad theology onto anyone who is willing to listen. These lies can be some of the hardest to recognize and undo in our lives. These deadly lies often come in phrases like:
“If you follow Jesus, you must…”
Or
“If you REALLY believed, then you would…”
But I think the highest volume of lies come from ourselves. I bet if I asked you to take a pen and paper right now, set a timer for 60 seconds and write down all the lies you tell yourself ABOUT yourself in a given day you could come up with a pretty hearty and heart-breaking list in that single minute. I know I can. I wrestle daily with believing lies about my worth, my adequacy and my abilities. It is an overwhelmingly difficult battle. The lies are strong. The lies are powerful.
Ultimately, all of these lies come from the Evil One. There is a reason that Satan is called the “Father of lies.” It is because he is the utter antithesis of Jesus, who is “The Truth.” It is because the first place we see him in Scripture is in the Garden, twisting God’s words and prompting God’s beautiful creation to do the same. He is the father of lies because it is the place where he is able to enter into human existence, perhaps more than any other place, in order to cause chaos, brokenness and strife within and among people and most importantly between us and God.
Lies come in so many forms.
They come in literal, spoken statements. They come in passive aggressive remarks that go well beyond the words uttered. They come through insinuations. They come in thought patterns and inferred beliefs based on the actions and treatments of others. They are often birthed in the translation and interpretation processes our minds naturally go through.
Lies hold us captive in many ways.
They limit us. They shame us. They define us in ways we were never meant to be defined. Lies kill our confidence. They kill our dreams. They prevent us from functioning properly. They steal our joy. They keep us from stepping forward into the exact things God has created us to do. So, yes, lies are a very big deal. And yes, lies are bondage just waiting to happen. And since Freed to Soar is all about freedom and bondage breaking, lies will be a main focus in the weeks, months, and perhaps years to come. My hope and prayer is that as I talk honestly and vulnerably about unique lies that have prevented me and the ones I love the most from living “fully alive” lives, hearts will be struck and chains will fall. That is, after all, our goal. Isn’t it?!
Ruth Valentine