4 Lies Christians Believe About Themselves

Christian. You’d think people would understand that word by now, but you’d be wrong. People have all kinds of ideas about what makes someone a Christian. Believers are prejudiced, bigots, science deniers, and self-righteous. Or Christians are perfect, pious, self-sacrificing, humble, charitable, and good citizens. Or… You get the point. People hold contradictory views about what is true about Christians, and it doesn’t help that believers don’t know themselves in God’s eyes either. There are plenty of lies Christians believe about themselves, and we all need to make sure we haven’t fallen for them, too.

Lies Christians Believe About Themselves: The Good, The Bad, And The Truth

Depending on your church background, mentors, pastor, friends, family, and self-perception, you may be more inclined to believe negative things about yourself or positive ones. I’m sure you can think of people who always see themselves in the worst light, or equally as bad, see no fault in themselves at all.

We all struggle with having a 100% accurate view of ourselves, but it’s important as Christians to see ourselves as God sees us because it’s the truth. We can imagine any version of reality our minds can come up with, but there is only one truth. God’s truth.

Knowing the truth about ourselves can potentially help us let go of guilt, strip away our pride, better serve God, and understand Him more completely. So, knowing the truth about ourselves is imperative.

The number of possible lies Christians believe about themselves can stretch on quite a bit. Therefore, let’s look at just a few.

Lies Christians Believe About Themselves: “I don’t sin anymore.”

Some Christians honestly believe that they no longer sin because they are saved. I personally think that is one of the least insightful things any believer can say. It either displays a very high view of self or inaccurate understanding of sin. When we consider that Jesus explained that even our thought life can be sinful (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28), how can we ever hope to be perfectly sinless until we are glorified in the presence of the Lord? While living in this mortal body and warring with the flesh, we will fail at some point.

Having acknowledged we are not sinless, I want to also clarify that we don’t have a license to sin. When a Christian sins, she should feel grief over it and repent. Our lives cannot be defined by sinful lifestyles.

“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.”

1 John 3:4-6 (ESV)

This section of First John is frequently misunderstood as saying Christians don’t sin, but the passage is actually referring to habitual sin. What else does God say about whether or not Christians sin?

We Aren’t Saved To Keep Sinning

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

Romans 6:1-2 (ESV)

The Apostle Paul warns that God’s grace is not meant to help us live in sin. God is clear in His Word. Christians are not to be known for their sin. There are failures, and then there are patterns. Don’t pattern yourself in sin.

Christians Will Sin

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

1 John 1:8-10 (ESV)

First John is a great book for a spiritual check-up because it is essentially a Christianity 101 lesson. I come back to this book often to remind myself of the essential doctrine of the faith and to examine myself regarding any deceptions I may have let into my worldview. The verses above remind us that we are not yet beyond the grasp of sin.

God calls us liars if we say we don’t ever sin. Moreover, John tells us what to do when we sin; we must confess.

Still think Christians don’t sin? Why would John tell Christians what to do when they sin unless the expectation is that we will sin?

Christians Are In A Battle With Sin

“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”

Romans 7:21-23 (ESV)

This is Paul speaking. The great apostle that Christians strive to be like but believe they can never emulate. He struggled with sin. If anyone has ever told a believable conversion story, I’d say Saul becoming Paul would be that story. What a transformed life! What a testimony of salvation, faith, obedience, and love! Well, Paul, like all believers, battled the flesh.

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”

Galatians 5:16-17 (ESV)

Again, Paul warns Christians about a war with the flesh. We can assume they are born again because he encourages them to walk by the Spirit which is something you can’t do without having the Spirit. Even indwelled by the Spirit, Paul tells us we have an opposing force, the flesh, working against us.

Sin Doesn’t Indicate Losing Salvation

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

Ephesians 4:30 (ESV)

We’ll discuss losing salvation a little later, but we should quickly look at it in the context of this lie Christians believe about themselves. People who think Christians don’t sin will often point at believers who sin and say they’ve lost their salvation. That one sin, whatever it may be, has cost them their relationship with the Lord. This verse, however, contradicts that idea. Upon salvation, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit. A seal is a promise from God that we are His. In fact, a seal marks ownership, and the seal we receive in the form of the Holy Spirit is God saying, “She is my daughter and belongs to me now.”

God keeps His promises, and the promise of eternal life is not going to be the one promise He’ll uncharacteristically break because you aren’t literally perfect yet.

Lies Christians Believe About Themselves: “I don’t do enough for God.”

Overachievers can be discouraging, am I right? (I’m sorry if I’m talking about you.) I know they aren’t doing anything inherently wrong, but their activity and hard work makes me feel a bit like a bump on a log. Then, of course, there are the Christians who are seemingly always in the limelight. They receive constant thanks and are in full view while serving the Lord.

The rest of us can feel like we’re coming up short. “Am I really doing enough?” Maybe you aren’t doing enough, but I wonder if perhaps you’re trapped in the comparison game. God hasn’t called us all to do the same things, and a lot of the things we do may feel mundane but are important to God.

A Parable

In Matthew 25:14-30 we can find the Parable of the Talents. A man is about to leave on a journey and entrusts three of his servants with some of his property based on each one’s abilities. He gives the first servant five talents, the second receives two, and the man gives the final servant one talent.  

Quick Note: A talent in this context is a large sum of money. According to estimates, one talent’s value ranges between a laborer’s wages for fifteen to twenty years.

After their master left, the first two servants doubled the sums they were given. On the other hand, the third servant hid the master’s money out of fear. Upon his return, the master was pleased with the first two servants. The third servant revealed what he had done with his talent, and the master was greatly displeased and took the talent away.

This parable has more than one application. (Keep in mind that no application can be made for the prosperity gospel.) For our conversation, though, I’d like to look at the most common interpretation of the parable.

We have been given time, money, and skills, and it is all from God. Not only that, but it all belongs to Him. We are really just stewards of what belongs to God, and it matters what we do with what God gives to us. The most valuable thing we can do with what God has given us is to use what we have to glorify Him and spread the gospel.

Perhaps you have a little. Through your obedience and faithfulness, God can use the little you have for Kingdom-sized things. How many elderly grandmothers have used the little they had to send a card or letter to someone in need of Christ, to read the Bible to their grandchildren, and to pray for the lost? Little indeed! We’ll never know how great an impact those small things had.

We Each Have A Role

You might be convinced that we’re all stewards of the resources God has given us, but you might still think we need to do the same things. If so, check out 1 Corinthians 12:12-31.

The picture in this section of Scripture is easy to understand. The Church is one body, but we are made up of many different parts. The fingers, eyes, heart, and nose all do different things, but they are all essential. Your eyeballs will never be able to grasp anything, pump your blood, or smell the delicious food (or alarming smoke) in the kitchen.

Just as a body needs many different members with very different jobs to function well, so does the Church. No role we play is less than any other in the grand scheme of things. As long as we are obediently following the Lord and using what God has given us to glorify and honor Him, then we are doing what we should. Let the busy ladies be as busy as they choose to be. Meanwhile, focus on what God is asking you to do.

Lies Christians Believe About Themselves: “My works keep me saved.”

Works. That one word is the difference between true Christianity and all other religions. Catholics say Jesus saves, but they insist on works to help take that salvation into the endzone. The Church of Latter-day Saints (see also: Mormons) rely heavily on works and outward perception. Buddhism is based on, you guessed it, works. The list of false religions goes on and on. Biblical Christianity, however, relies on salvation as a free gift through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We can’t earn it or keep it. To be blunt, we’re useless in the whole salvation plan.

Christians Don’t Perform Works?

Hopefully, it’s obvious that Christians should do good works. As it says in James, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). Those works that James talks about, though, follow salvation. One of the results of a true conversion is a desire to do good works.

Before knowing Jesus, we do “good” things. There are plenty of unsaved people who try to be charitable and loving. Until we know Christ, however, everything we do is tainted by our sin. Even the amazing things we do that result in wonderful outcomes are filth (Isaiah 64:6) if they are from our own power and efforts. Works of our own doing are not truly good works, and Christians do good works as a response to their faith rather than as a means of earning points with God.

Works Don’t Save

It’s easy to look at Christians from the outside and assume they are “good” people and have earned favor with God. I remember thinking that before being saved. My own father continually says he is hoping he’s done enough good to get him into Heaven. He hasn’t. He never will. His only hope is to repent and believe in Jesus, letting go of the all-to-common belief that he can do anything to help himself. It’s difficult to move away from that thinking, though, because all religions, many of which claiming to be Christian, teach earning some sort of heaven. The Bible simply doesn’t teach that.

Saying this isn’t popular, even among Christians. It sounds harsh and unkind. The message is, though I try not to say it this way, “you’ll never be good enough.” But it’s true. None of us will be. I’m not making this stuff up. I’m simply telling you what God says.

We’re Not Enough: The Receipts

I know the world keeps telling you that you’re great and can do anything. All your feelings are valid, and you experience your own truth. But you’re not fine the way you are. Neither am I. In fact, no one is enough. We’ll never save ourselves or even keep the salvation God gives us through our own efforts. (We can’t lose it, either!) Here’s a little of what we see on the subject in the Word. (All emphasis is mine.)

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,”

Titus 3:4-6 (ESV)

“We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Galatians 2:15-16 (ESV)

“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

Ephesians 1: 13-14 (ESV)

“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

John 10:28-29 (ESV)

“For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

Romans 3:28 (ESV)

Lies Christians Believe About Themselves: “God doesn’t want to hear from me.”

How are some Christians absolute beasts when it comes to prayer? They are consistent and bold when they approach God through prayer. Meanwhile, so many other believers go weeks without taking time out to pray. And no, I don’t mean, “Bless this McDonald’s Big Mac, and bless the teenage hands that prepared it.” I’m talking about intercession, praise and thanksgiving, and confession.

I’ll tell you what’s going on with a lot of Christians. They’re busy and distracted. Thanks, in part, to social media, they have the attention span of a fruit fly. (I’m assuming their attention span is short. Just roll with it.) Packed schedules, endless obligations, and now attention spans don’t necessarily build a solid foundation for a robust prayer life.

So, to justify this reality, some of us tell ourselves a lie. “God doesn’t want to hear from me.” Somehow, we end up convinced that we are a bother and not important enough for Him to listen to us. Of all the lies Christians believe about themselves, this is one of the saddest. He loves us and has wanted fellowship with us from the very beginning.

The Garden

Think about our creation (Genesis 2:5-25). God spoke the world into existence, but He molded us. Certainly, He could have said, “Let there be man and woman,” and mankind would have instantly existed. Instead, God personally formed Adam from the dust of the earth, using His own breath to give Adam life. Then, He allowed Adam to name the creatures God has created. Finding no partner in creation for Adam, God made Eve from Adam’s rib.

Do you see that the relationship here between God and people is unique compared to the one He has with the rest of creation? It’s intimate and relational. He created them in His image, and He made a perfect world in which He gave mankind dominion over all that lives in it (Genesis 1:26). Everything was perfect, even Adam and Eve’s relationship with God.

Temptation

We all know the story. Satan, as a serpent, deceived Eve. Subsequently, she and Adam ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And just like that, y’all, sin entered the chat.

Sin ruined the perfect fellowship Adam and Eve had with God, but He already had a plan set in motion to restore His relationship with mankind through Jesus. When we failed Him by sinning, He still pursued a way to repair that relationship. He wants to be close to us, but it has to be on His terms. Sin separates us, but salvation through Jesus Christ can reconcile us to the Father.

And once a person is born again, God obviously wants to grow and deepen the relationship. He left us His Word, in part, for His children (that’s us!) to know Him better and to grow in Christlikeness as we mature in our faith. He also desires our prayers. Until we are in the presence of the Lord, prayer is our direct way of speaking to Him. He listens, He cares, and He responds. Nothing you can say or do will change that.

God Hears And Responds To Prayer

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV)

This is an example of God not only commanding us to pray to Him but to specifically come to Him with our burdens. Not only do these verses tell us to pray, but they also promise that God will respond by guarding our hearts and giving us peace. Throughout the Bible, we’re encouraged to pray for God to provide what we cannot give ourselves.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

James 1:5 (ESV)

“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Matthew 26:41 (ESV)

Jesus Modeled Prayer

The Word instructs us to pray, but Jesus Himself also prayed. Who’s going to argue against what our Savior modeled to us?

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he [Jesus] departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

Mark 1:35 (ESV)

“And after he [Jesus] had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,”

Matthew 14:23 (ESV)

“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.”

Hebrews 5:7 (ESV)

“And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.’”

Matthew 26:39 (ESV)

Final Thought

Yes, we’re sinners, but God forgives and has made us sensitive to sin. In fact, we hate sin. No, we don’t have to serve the Lord like anyone else. God has a role for you in the Church, and it might look different than some of the other ladies’ roles. Yes, God wants you to pray to Him. He loves you and wants you to call out. Actually, He commands it. And no, you’re never going to be able to work your way to salvation, but praise the Lord, you’ll not lose your salvation, either.

If Christians stopped believing these four lies and confidently lived in the knowledge of the truth, they would be a better witness to the world around them, significantly less anxious, and closer to God.

Have you ever believed these lies? Are there other lies you believed about yourself as a Christian?

Image courtesy of Priscilla Du Preez via Unsplash.