Don’t Buy the Lie: See You as God Sees You

You have an enemy.  He is called by many names, satan, lucifer, the devil, etc., but one characteristic and label in particular defines him best – the deceiver.  When referring to your enemy, Jesus said he “was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44).  Indeed, the very first story where your enemy appears in the Bible (Genesis 3), he is found lying.  And what was he lying about?  God’s love for people (He tried to convince Eve that God lied to her and God was trying to keep something good from her by denying fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.).  


It’s the enemy’s favorite subject to lie about because if he can get you to doubt God’s love for you, then you will not trust God for help with anything, including salvation, healing, or finances.  In fact, if you buy into his lies about what God thinks about you (e.g., you are a failure, you never do anything right, God is mad at you because you continue to sin over and over again, you don’t read enough Bible, you don’t pray enough, etc.), you’ll be more apt to fear God and run from Him and hide.  This is the enemy’s goal – to alienate you from God.


Look at the first recorded interaction between the devil and Jesus.  After Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, a voice came from heaven and God said to Jesus: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).  Immediately after, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.  Notice the first statement that the devil made to Him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” (Luke 4:3).  The devil repeated back to Jesus what God said to Him at His baptism . . . except, do you notice what the devil left out?  Yes, the devil conveniently left out that God loves Jesus and is well pleased with Him.  The devil will never remind you that you are loved by God and God is pleased with you because then you would be empowered to reject his lies.

Now let me dispel the lies of your enemy and tell you today how God sees you according to His own words contained in the Bible.  If you are a believer in Jesus Christ (that is, you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess Him as your Lord), you belong to God through the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 1:7).  You are forgiven of all your sins (Acts 10:43).  And you have become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).  What does it mean to become the righteousness of God?  When God looks at you, He doesn’t see what you have done wrong, but what Jesus did right.  Jesus’ righteousness (or said differently, His right standing with God because He never sinned) is imparted to you.  Thus, just as God loves Jesus and is well pleased with Him, God loves you and is well pleased with you.  So the next time the enemy tries to feed you his lies, don’t buy them.  See you as God sees you.