I’m probably the hardest person on myself. Scratch that, definitely the hardest.
I want to constantly be my best and when I fall short, I am quick to frustration with myself. And I allow that frustration to lead me to believe that I am holding myself accountable to all I can be in Christ. But often, that’s not what it is at all. Often, it’s the exact opposite. Which is exactly what God has been showing me lately.
The truth is, we often mistake believing the enemy’s lies about us for holding ourselves to our best.
One brings us to our best and one keeps us from our best. Holding ourselves to our best is great, but not when it chains ourselves down in the process. That’s what the enemy wants.
And sometimes, it’s so small that we won’t even notice. But the enemy will often take conviction from the Holy Spirit and turn it into conditions you have to meet.
“God will only love you when you stop doing [x]”
“See what you’ve done? You’re already too far gone from the standard so you might as well give up”
“You are a failure because you don’t [x].”
All of these are lies the enemy will tell us about conditions we have to meet to have failed to meet. Most of the time, they don’t come from some random place. They often come from the convictions the Holy Spirit is laying on our hearts. But Satan will be quick to turn those into feeling discouraged and defeated at ourselves.
That’s why we are called to be on our guard and stand firm in the faith (1 Corinthians 16:13); to guard our hearts above all else (Proverbs 4:23). Because the enemy is sneaky and swoop in with lies that steal, kill, and destroy. That’s why we must fill our hearts and our minds with the truth about what God says about who we are, who He is, and what we were created to do. Because doing so will lead us to abundant, purposeful life in Jesus.
You see, God takes what the enemy means for evil and turns it for our good; the enemy takes what God meant for good and twists it to be evil.
Being convicted by the Holy Spirit is a good thing. Truthfully, it may not feel very good in the moment or in the moments after, but it ultimately is a good thing. It means the Spirit dwells in you (Ephesians 1:13); it shows the privilege you have to be continually transformed into the image and likeness of God (2 Corinthians 3:18); it holds us to our best.
Conviction is leading you one step closer to who God created you to be — it’s leading you to your best in a loving and encouraging way.
Those are the key words.
Because the enemy will take what’s meant for good (conviction by Spirit) and twist it in an unloving and discouraging way to lead you away from your best. To keep you down at your weakest.
Here’s what conviction is not. It’s not putting ourselves down. It’s not thinking this is the best we can do. Those are all lies the enemy wants us to believe. But when we believe those, we aren’t holding ourselves to our best, we’re actually bringing ourselves down to our worst.
And here’s the thing: you were never meant to live down to the world, you were created to live and rise up to the Kingdom of God. You were created for so much MORE than the lies the enemy of this world is feeding you.
That’s why this is important. That’s why this all matters.
The Holy Spirit is trying to bring confirmation of the Word; the enemy only wants to bring conformation to the world. The first brings abundant life; the second brings destruction of life. This difference matters, this mistake needs to be recognized and our thinking changed to align with God’s.
So if we often mistake the enemy’s lies for holding ourselves to our best, how do we know the difference? This is the difference:
When it comes from the enemy, it won’t sound like conviction; it’ll sound like condemnation.
Romans 8:1 tells us that there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”, so any condemnation you do feel is from the enemy’s lies, not the Lord’s love. Remember: the enemy’s lies are meant to chain you to your worst but the Lord’s love lifts you up to your best.
God wants us to continually be transformed by the Holy Spirit. To grow more and more into the character of Christ. But holding ourselves to our best will never involve believing the worst about ourselves.
In fact, it’s the exact opposite. It’s believing the best is yet to come because with God there is always more. God has more for you, rise up!
