The Devil Tells You Are Unworthy…. And He Is Right.

Before we get to today’s article, I just want to mention that am writing from the perspective of a man that has experienced many of the challenges of which I write…. and those spiritual battles continue daily. The articles are implications of what it means to obey the commandment to raise your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. They require some reflection and are particularly for Christians who, as Peter would say, are diligently seeking to confirm their calling and are making every effort to supplement their faith. Said more succinctly, serious Christians. If you know other believers who desire to walk more faithfully with the Lord, please forward an article to them and tell them to sign up for future articles. Thanks so much!

The Devil Tells You Are Unworthy…. And He Is Right.

“The “American dream.” That great term that refers to the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American dream is believed to be achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance” (From Investopedia).

This is the great dream under which many American generations were raised. In more recent years this has been warped into systems of belief that tell you to just believe and you can achieve whatever you want to achieve and be whatever you want to be. But even though the components of achievement have reduced or minimized the need to sacrifice and work hard, the core reason for a person’s success is still based on yourself, even if it is only the act of believing in yourself.

Listen to the responses that we hear from so many who have achieved a level of success and especially those who have achieved fame. They are asked what was the key to their success and what do they say? “I put in the work, I practiced, I studied, I listened, I watched, I was dedicated, I was disciplined, I persevered, I made sacrifices for it. In all of those responses, the bottom line is what they did, and only they, earned it.

Sadly, these are the people we find ourselves attributing greater value and worth than others. We admire the great orator, the person who is very smart, the good looking person, the successful athlete, the rich person, the highly decorated military man, and the great performer. These are the people we so often find ourselves aspiring to become.

And what does living the American dream do to the soul of a man? As he is reminded of his achievements by others, it gives him great pleasure and increases his pride. He continually reflects on what he has done and revels in it. He receives glory and is powerfully motivated to experience more.

This is the world we live in. It is a world where men train the minds of men to seek glory for themselves. It is a world in which men declare belief in themselves and how they will go about achieving their plans, and when they are blessed with success, the kindness of God is ignored, and glory is claimed by the creature. Obviously, this system of thinking is not one that honors God, but a system of thinking that is propagated by the evil one.

With that system of thinking in mind, the devil enters in. The foundation of self-reliance and self-achievement has been laid and the devil enters in with lies and accusations. If he finds a non-Christian beginning to question his eternal destination and whether or not God will forgive him for a lifetime of disobedience, the devil tells him that he is not worthy to receive forgiveness. He tells him that he has not been good enough, that he’s going to have to work harder. The devil knows that the man will never arrive at a place where he will work hard enough or sacrifice enough to be perfect before a holy God, and he blinds men from understanding this truth. Because of this blindness, men try harder and harder to make themselves worthy of God’s acceptance, ultimately fail in frustration and despair, and are worse off than they were when they started.

To the Christian, Satan prowls the earth like a roaring lion looking for Christians who are experiencing a weak time in their spiritual life. It may be during a time of physical exhaustion or great challenges brought on by the death of loved ones, poor health, or financial pressures. Enter Satan into the situation and he places doubts in the mind of the Christian such as, are you really a true believer? Do you really have forgiveness from God? How could God forgive such a person as you, a person who continues to commit the same sins over and over again?

This is an incredibly effective strategy. For both the non-Christian and the Christian, Satan uses the tendency for us to believe in our worth based on what we have done rather than the gospel truth that our worth is based on what Jesus Christ has done. He will come with his accusations and lies each time the Christian is weak during trials or disobedience and each time the non-Christian considers his need to be reconciled to God.

It is a brilliantly designed fiery dart because the evil one uses half-truths to confuse us. In this case he is half right- we are not worthy to receive God’s forgiveness. The Bible clearly teaches us the same! But this is precisely where we can have victory when we read the rest of the story. We must know our Bibles! We defeat worldly thinking by using the sword of the Spirit- the word of God. Listen-

No one has done good, not even you! (Romans 3:10-11)“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
You couldn’t have done anything about your spiritual condition because you were dead. (Ephesians 2:1-2) “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”
And while you were dead and helpless, God did an amazing thing. (Ephesians 2:2-5) “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”
We became worthy because God looks on us and sees the worthiness of His Son, Jesus. It never was our worth and never will be! (2 Corinthians 5:21) “For our sake he God, the Father) made him (Jesus, the Son) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
And now that you belong to Christ, there is no going back because we are kept in the family according to His promise and power, not ours! (John 10:28-30) “I (Jesus) 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. I and the Father are one.”

These are the words of truth that we must train our minds with to do battle with the evil one. This is not thinking like the world we were brought up in but thinking that is formed in a renewed mind (Romans 12:2). These are truths that draw our natural gaze on ourselves away from us and toward Christ. He is both worthy and the only plea for our worthiness, and when we think about Him is this way, we will praise Him. Live in the security of it. Rejoice in it.