Have you ever innocently gone about your day doing the things that you do when out of nowhere you experienced a conversation or event that completely changed everything? Maybe you were dropping off the kids at practice or talking to a coworker at the water cooler, when suddenly someone said or did something that completely changed the way you saw life at that moment -- or maybe the way you saw yourself.
Some of the conversations or events we experience can be so powerful that they catapult us into emotional states that gnaw away at us with nagging, irrational thoughts. They tell us things like we’re not good enough or that what we do is worthless. Virtually anything can lead us in this direction; an argument, a promotion that we didn’t get, a bad grade, or even a friend’s failure to include us in a social invitation. The list of possible catalysts varies with each individual personality.
At the core of these feelings of worthlessness, however, there is no basis of truth. On the contrary, these feelings are based upon the powerful and debilitating untruth of mistaken identity. This untruth is a stronghold that needs to be demolished.
As mentioned last week, the term “stronghold” refers to a fortified place, a prison of sorts that holds the individual captive to false ways of thinking, false thoughts, false notions that are raised up against the knowledge of God. This is where the people with the stronghold of mistaken identity find themselves: a place of self-deception, telling them they are not good enough.
In Genesis 1:26, the Bible tells us that God created man and woman in His own image. The truth is that as image–bearers of the true and living God, we are of infinite worth! We are God’s creation. (Ephesians 2:10) The Greek word used to describe God’s creative work is ποίημα, meaning “workmanship.” This implicit image is of God crafting us with His own hands, creating His very own work of art that He delights in!
John 3:16-17For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
Don’t allow the stronghold of mistaken identity to mislead you! You are a child of the King. You are created in God’s image, you are of infinite worth to Him, He crafted you as His very own work of art, and He loved you so much that He sent His son to die for you!
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