The Two Cosmic Lies that Devastate the Human Heart – Part 4 The Price We Pay – A Shorter Version

It has been over a month since my last post. July has been a busy time for Judy and me with our family. But now I have some time to return to thinking and writing about the price human beings pay when they live their lives under the influence of the two lies I have been describing: 1) You are not good enough (you are not worthy, you have no value, you are and always will be insignificant, you are unlovable, you have no future, you are not strong enough, you will never belong or fit in, God has turned His back on you, and all the other variations of this lie); and 2) But you can make yourself good enough through your own efforts and in your own power.

Here is a shorter version of what I have already published, with a few new thoughts.

Introduction

Pride is seeking to make yourself ‘good enough’, demanding the right to yourself, and finding your value through your own efforts. Pride is the place of entire dependence upon self for all of our value, comfort, provision, and security. Pride is the worship of self or the love of self with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. In contrast, humility is the place of entire dependence upon God for everything we need today, tomorrow, and eternity. Humility is the worship of God. When we worship Him, we surrender and submit our lives to Him, loving Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

When we believe the two lies and govern our lives accordingly, we enter the place of pride. “In heaven and on earth, pride of self-exaltation is the very gateway to hell” (Andrew Murray, Humility, pg 16).

Human beings have to make a fundamental choice. Will they believe the lies and follow the way of self, the worship of self. Or, will they come to Jesus, confessing their need for a savior, and entering into – as David writes in the 23rd psalm – green pastures and quiet waters (metaphors for a place of grace, security, provision, and rest) where their soul is restored, and they are guided in paths of righteousness? Each person must choose, even if they don’t know they are choosing – will I live in the kingdom of the world or will I live now and for eternity in the Kingdom of God?

But what if I don’t surrender and submit to Jesus? What if I believe the lies and set out to prove to myself and the world around me by my own efforts that I am ‘good enough’, that I am significant, and that I have value and worth? As I have written in previous posts, this life of dependence upon self has grave consequences.

The Price We Pay

So what are some of these consequences (as I see them) if I choose to live apart from God, the saving grace of Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit? Here is a list of what it costs us:

Obviously, we choose a life separated from God. We are on our own. By choosing against God we are actually placing ourselves under the authority of another power greater than ourselves. We are not free. We live in bondage and darkness. This is the ‘broad road’ that Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount. It leads to destruction.

We were created by God to live in relationship with Him. Rooted in our relationship with Him in love, we were created to live in relationship with others. When we search for value in our power, we not only cut ourselves off from God, but we cut ourselves off from ‘life together’.

It is also a matter of authority and power. When we find our ultimate value in Christ, we walk in His authority and power, releasing signs, wonders, and miracles, including healing miracles, for His glory. When we believe the lies and seek our value in ‘self’ and the idols of the world, we place ourselves under the authority and power of another – satan, the prince of this world at the expense of who God created us to be. We become defenseless against demonic attacks and oppression.

We turn spiritually and emotionally inward. We hide behind the walls of a fortified city in our hearts. Although we cut ourselves off from our true feelings, we open our hearts up to many negative emotions or worse.

After years of seeking value through the efforts of self, we wake up one morning to find our souls filled only with emptiness and darkness.

This is because whatever ultimate thing we choose to give us value never satisfies. Somehow all of the spiritual and emotional value we think we are getting from wealth, possessions, accomplishments, etc always leaks away, leaving us hungry and thirsty for more – always needing more. It is like feeding a caged lion with a voracious and insatiable appetite.

We run nonstop seeking value from the things of the world. We cannot rest! One of two things happens – we become increasingly frenetic in our quest for value, or we give up, get burned out, and retreat into the fortified city in our heart – cut off from God and the world around us – isolated and lonely. Is this the definition of hell?

This is the reason why many people conclude that life is futile. No matter how hard they try, they can never find in ‘self’ that value they were created to need and receive.

We put ourselves in a place where we can never experience – give or receive – true love.

Like Esau, we give up our birthright for a ‘pot of stew’. Here is what I mean. Isaac, the son of the patriarch Abraham, had two sons: Esau, the oldest by a few minutes, and his brother Jacob. In that culture the oldest received the father’s blessing, conferring upon the oldest son headship of the family and a double portion of the inheritance. It is a very big deal.

One day Esau came into camp after hunting all day. He was hungry. Jacob was cooking a pot of stew. Esau saw the stew and told Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew. I’m famished! Jacob replied, “First, sell me your birthright. Esau said, “Look, I am about to die (from hunger, I presume). What good is the birthright to me?” (Genesis 25: 30 – 32 NIV). For some of the stew, Esau ‘sold’ his birthright to Jacob.

Esau despised his birthright. He gave away something of great value to satisfy a temporary need – his stomach.

When we search for our value, comfort, and safety through our own efforts we are like Esau. We give up something of great value for a temporary need – only to wake up the next day needing more.

What is our birthright? Every human being is made in the image and likeness of God, with a God-breathed spirit. We were created to receive an inheritance from God – a Kingdom inheritance that includes a transformed life, the indwelling Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts like healing and prophecy; and power and authority over dark powers and principalities. When we choose to follow the way of self rather than the way of Jesus, we give up our Kingdom inheritance of indescribable value for a ‘pot of stew’.

We continually live with anxiety and fear – fear of rejection, of loss, and of never having enough. What will happen to us if the thing that gives us value is taken away? We can become terrified.

We release evil into the world. I have described this in other posts. Briefly, evil is a force determined to usurp God’s place in creation and destroy the works of God, including us. We give evil a name: satan. Somehow (I believe) when we worship self, live selfishly, and look for value through our own efforts, we release darkness into the world. “Pride (the worship of and dependence upon self) has its root and strength in a spiritual power . . . it is satanic in origin” (Murray, ‘Humility’, pg. 24). Just as Christians are filled with living water when they are in Christ and can release living water into the world, those who live in the place of pride, seeking value through their own efforts, are filled with a kind of spiritual poison. They can release this poison, or evil, into the world around them.

We can never fulfill our destiny – the purpose for which each of us was created. We will never experience true joy apart from this purpose, our calling in life. Our birthright or inheritance gives us the means – the gifts, power, and authority – to accomplish our purpose. But we must act. Most generally, we are created to rule over God’s creation in partnership with Him – to release the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world. How each of us accomplishes this purpose is highly individual and depends not only on the birthright and gifts, but also on where God places us. But for sure, if we are seeking our value and purpose in self, we will be chasing a false purpose and missing out on our true calling.

One of the most significant consequences of pride is the inability to stand in the face of terrible misfortunes in life like a traumatic death of a spouse or child, a life-threatening disease, a crippling accident, or even events like the loss of a job, a divorce, or coming to terms with abuse in our past. I prayed with a woman whose husband was battling cancer (he died a week or so later). I asked her if she was angry with God. “How can I be angry with God”, she said. “I need Him too much.” Those who seek their value in Christ, who walk humbly through each day relying on His strength and provision, experience supernatural comfort, peace, and even joy in the midst of unspeakable, mind numbing sadness, loss, and grief. Those who rely on self don’t have these resources.

Finally, we become like what we worship. When we seek our value in self and the things of the world instead of God, we are worshiping idols – all idols promise fulfillment but never deliver on the promise. They are all counterfeits – which is the way satan works. The Psalmist writes:

“The idols of nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men (most of us worship idols that are not made of silver of gold, but they are just as much idols as silver and golden statues), made by the hands of men. They have mouths but cannot speak; eyes, but they cannot see, they have ears but cannot hear, nor is their breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them” (Psalm 135: 15 – 18 NIV).

We can also become like who we hate.

When we live our lives trusting in these idols, we become like them – spiritually and emotionally mute, blind, deaf, and without breath. Or as John puts it in Revelation 3: 18, speaking of the church in Laodicea – we become “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked”. We don’t realize that is who we are until Jesus opens our eyes. And then we can’t believe we lived that way for so long – a shades-of-gray life instead of the Technicolor life that Jesus offers.

So What? So This

There are many more costs for following the life of self in an attempt to make oneself ‘good enough’. These 15 define a life that is sadly out of focus, a life that is burning energy trying to accomplish the impossible, a life of futility and ultimately failure; a joyless and resigned life of disappointment and frustration. When we live this way, we are living a counterfeit life, apart from God. And this life has a terrible eternal future.

Our enemy, satan, wants us to believe that we have no value or significance apart from what we can acquire or achieve in this life through our own efforts, apart from God. Satan also wants us to believe that if we don’t acquire or achieve, we are without value, are insignificant, and unlovable.

The demonic paradox is that ultimately, if you accept and live under the influence of these lies, even if you have acquired great wealth and achieved amazing things, you will still feel ‘not good enough’.

Am I correct? Is this the life we live apart from God? I think it is. How do I know? I lived this life myself. Is there a way out? Is there an alternative? There is! He is Jesus. His cross opens the door to begin living a new life of hope, peace, joy, and purpose in this broken and bleeding world. And He loves you. Right now, right where you are. That is the good news, the gospel. That is the subject of my next post.

Living the abundant life (but not perfectly),

John