The Bondage of "I am No Good."

Have you ever heard shame call out with its hammering megaphone in your life?

You are toxic. You are bad. You have zero good in you at all. Stop pretending. Others will see it and leave you. They always do. It's because of YOU. You hurt people. Give it enough time, and they'll see the true you. You're the problem. Because you're the material that scum lives on. You're disposable. You're bad. Face it. You're no good, after all."

Proverbs 23:7 says, "As a man thinks, so he [lives]." 

If you think you are "no good," two things will happen. First, you will live in ways that a "no good" person would live—even if it's a lie. How? By reason of the second result. You develop a sin consciousness instead of a righteousness consciousness. 

A sin consciousness looks at all of the areas that "prove" my lie. 

• See, I just stuck my foot in my mouth again. There's proof I am no good!
• Yes, I made a colossal mistake. More proof that I am no good. 
• I just hurt that person. Yep. I am no good. 
• I reacted rather than responded to him. See, I am no good. 
• I blew it with that person. Of course. I am no good. 
• I can't get it together. The proof keeps coming. I am no good.
  
• They won't talk to me. I knew it. I'm no good. 

You believe a lie about yourself and you look outward to prove that lie. And given our fallen world, what you look for, you will find. Over and over, you continue to prove your particular lie until it becomes a stronghold of belief. 

Pretty soon, without even trying, you find yourself apologizing for even breathing or taking up space in the world. It's inevitable! The consciousness of sin brings bitter fruit for death (Romans 7:5). 

The Bible Bible calls this bondage. 

Oh, please, is there another option? 

Why yes, there is—a righteousness consciousness. 

Okay, Aleisha. So what does a righteousness consciousness look like? 

Glad you asked! 

Is it looking for proof in our life, circumstances, or relationships that prove our worth? Is it telling ourselves multiple times per day how awesome we are? Is it pushing down and compartmentalizing our pain and feelings of self-loathing? Is it doing everything we can to grow and mature to "prove" something to ourselves? 

No! All of those 'ways' are still the positive side of the wrong tree. It's still looking at the wrong source to provide or verify our worth and value as a person. 

Instead of looking horizontally at people and situations, we look vertically (inward—Christ in me) to Jesus Christ, and Him alone, for the answer. It's "eyes up, not out." We look for what the Word, not the world, says about who God is and who we therefore are. 

• Even though I stuck my foot in my mouth, I am still the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. 
• Even though I made a colossal mistake, it doesn't change the fact that Jesus Christ is my life. 
• Even though I hurt that person, the Holy Spirit will convict me of my righteousness (aka my true identity), knowing that the kindness of God leads to repentance. 
• Even though I reacted rather than responded to him, Christ chose to die on the cross for ME!
• Even though I blew it with that person, the Holy Spirit responds to me with love, kindness, and loyalty. 
• Even though I can't seem to get it together, I am loved with an everlasting love, and Christ is FOR me. 
• Even though they won't talk to me, the Holy Spirit will never abandon me and sings over me in love. 

Eyes up or down? Eyes in or out? Eyes open or closed?

In other words, do my eyes line up with God's thoughts or with my self-talk coupled with the words of others?  

Isaiah 55:8 states, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts." That's precisely the problem. In regard to our identity, our thoughts often do not align with Father's thoughts toward us. 

Father says one thing. Life, circumstances, others, and the flesh scream out something entirely different. 

It's all a choice. No one can make you think anything. You choose where to look. You choose to replace the lie with the truth. You choose to agree with what Father says. You choose to renew and set your mind on truth. 

Developing self-worth won't accomplish tearing down the shame. 

Instead, setting our minds upon the "Already Established, Once-for-all, God-Worth in Jesus Christ Gift of Righteousness New Identity" totally obliterates the strongholds in our minds. 

The answer is never self-worth. That's bondage. 

The answer is always God-worth. That's freedom!

Big difference!

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Aleisha