The Lie You Believe About God | Romans 3 | Crossroads Daily

I've seen discord on the internet and stuff, actually a lot of criticism of the Christian faith sometimes, because it's like they just want you to believe that you're worthless, and that you start like a worm, like you are worth nothing. And that is actually not God's heart for us, but it's one of those tensions in the Bible, right? And so I think when reading through books like Romans, you go back and forth from I am God's deeply loved child to I am horrible. And that's a hard thing and a confusing thing to navigate. It's one of the hardest parts, I think, about being a follower of Jesus, because... This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people, just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. Hey, I'm Chuck. I'm Caroline. I'm Peter. I'm Chris. Thanks for joining us for Romans 3. One of the earliest scriptures I memorized was Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Like I remember learning that as a kid. And you know, it's Paul's summary, basically, at this point, as he's laid out our problem, our sin problem, is that we all are on equal footing. We all have this problem. Why do you think it's important that we remember that, that we remember that we're all level set to the same when it comes to this sin problem? I mean, the short answer is it reminds us of our need for Jesus. That's right. And just keeps us humble. It keeps us on our knees before his throne. It keeps us in worship.

It reminds us of our cosmic place in the universe. All those things, you know, and it keeps us in relationship with God. That's it. Humility and gratitude will get you far. I was just about to say that about humility. If you can master being humble, that's impressive. And it is. It's the thing that connects you most to Jesus. It is. I also think for me, it's really important to see everybody else through that lens, right? To know that I'm just like anybody and everybody else. It keeps me out of a place of judgment when I realize like, hey, this is the level set. Well, two things. It keeps me out of judgment if I foolishly think I'm better than someone. It also keeps me out of condemnation if I foolishly think someone's better than me. So it actually works both ways. Yeah, it's, I'm reminded. So Paul, there's an interesting progression and I forget the books that it's written in, but it's like there's five years between each and he says three lines that are similar in each book. And the first one, it says, I am the worst of all of the apostles. Yeah. A few years later, he writes in another book, I am the worst of all of God's people, like all the saints, like anyone who calls himself a Christian, I'm the worst of all of them now. And at the end of his life, he's like, I am the worst of all sinners. And there's an interesting progression that like, as he grows closer to God's love for him, the thing he realizes most, he's like, I'm the worst. Like he keeps getting worse in his mind and that, but clearly there's a correlation of like that allowed him to love other people more deeply.

Like those who are forgiven little, love little, forgiven much, love much. And it's like, that's a great example of like, it can be so scary to admit how messed up we are. And it's like, no, that just allows you to love more deeply. That's really good. I think there is a lot. I've seen discord like on the internet and stuff, um, actually like a lot of criticism of the Christian faith sometimes, because it's like, they just want you to believe that you're worthless and like that you start like, like a worm, like you are worth nothing. And that is actually not God's heart for us, but it's one of those like tensions in the Bible. Right. Like, you know, I think when reading through books like Romans, you go back and forth from, I am God's deeply loved child to, I am horrible and that's a hard thing and a confusing thing to navigate as a Christian. Um, both can be true, but sitting in that tension is really difficult and we want to pick one or the other, but it's both. It's one of the, it's one of the hardest parts I think about being a follower of Jesus, because you have to recognize your own brokenness and own sinfulness. And in some ways I am a worm, like I am worthless. Like Jesus did not deserve to die for me. And at the same time, I am so loved that he would. And so in between those two things is the cross and God's grace for us. And I think that's part of the. answer to this question is it's understanding the tension of that and letting it lead you. Yes, yes. It is the foolishness of the cross, right? That's part of this idea that like, what? This cosmic thing was necessary and this human thing fixed it? That's the beauty of it. And I think Paul gets into that. He says, Jesus is the answer to all of this for us. He is the solution to our sin problem. Not anything we can do, not any works we can perform. That's the good news. I wonder, is it easier for you to believe that for yourself or for others?

Jesus died to set you free. Like, that's true. And yeah, you didn't deserve it, but you receive it by grace. I mean, for me, it's easier to believe for other people because I know all the worst things I've ever done. You know, it's like one of those things where it's like, oh, I know all that stuff. I don't know about other people. I can look at somebody else and be like, oh, you know, they're awesome. But I know all my stuff. So I think there's an element of if Jesus has forgiven me, how do you forgive yourself? What does reflecting that to yourself look like, I think? And that's a long journey. I think it's easier for me to believe that for other people. And I find that most people I ask that question to or talk about it with respond the same. And I think it's one of the biggest tools of the enemy that he uses that everyone else is worthy, but not you. Like there's something different or ugly about you specifically where that grace is true for everyone else, but you are different. And I think there's a lot of reasons for that, but that is one thing that I regularly have to combat in my life. And I have a mentor in my life. She does this thing called spiritual direction, and she often walks me through like visualization... Can someone say the word for me? Visualization prayers. And visualizing Jesus with me and imagining his face looking at me. And it's the most beautiful thing. It brings tears to my eyes every time because every time I find myself surprised that I imagine him looking at me with adoration and love because there's something in me that doesn't always believe that that's true. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, you're so right. You're so right. And just to like name it, because like Paul's going to get into this, but just to name it, like you've got real enemies coming against you believing that good news, right? Enemy number one, you named it. Like Satan is called the accuser, and he's actually called the accuser of the brother, meaning he primarily accuses those who are in the family of God. Like we see this all the way through the scriptures, right? So I think that's a real enemy. I do think there's also the enemy of our own inner critic. Like I'm gonna say this all the time, like man, the person I am most unkind to, and I've been unkind to people, but the person I am consistently most unkind to, his name is Chuck Mingo. Like that critical voice that we have in our own head is a real enemy. So we actually do have a battle on our hands. There's a cosmic reality to this stuff too. So like if you feel that too and you would say, yeah, man, it's hard for me to believe for myself, like welcome to the world. Welcome to reality. Welcome to the club.

Yeah, right. Humanity. Exactly. This is the human condition, and it's skipping ahead a little bit, but I love in Romans 8, therefore, one of the things the Holy Spirit does is reminds us that we're... This is the spirit gives us the ability to cry, Abba, Father, Daddy, to call him Daddy. Like, because we need that. We need to remember that like... And it's so funny, like, I know some of us are parents in here, and man, the love I have for my kids, you couldn't have described that to me before I had kids. You couldn't, but I wouldn't have had any context for it. But man, once it awakens in you, it just helps me understand God way better, like how you can love a worm. Like me, because like my kids can be worms sometimes. They do some things that make me angry. They do some things that make me upset, but man, I love those kids. I just love them. The late Brennan Manning, I love this quote from where he talks about how God made man in his own image, and then man returned the compliment. And all the evil, twisted, wicked things, how harsh we are, condemning, mean to each other. We're like, well, that's how God must be, because we see that every day with each other. I love a few verses before Romans 3, 4 says, let God be true and every man a liar, like meaning myself. Like the way I view God, really like recognize when I'm lying about who God is and that like, he's the only thing that is true. So like, if I'm feeling shameful or it's the worm thing to the extreme of being like, I'm not unforgivable. Like it's because I'm lying about who God actually is. Yes. I've had to repent to God for that before. I've literally had to say, God, I am sorry for believing that you have the character of X, Y, or Z in my life. My parents are human, just like all of ours, so I think that God looks at me the way that my parents would discipline me, or a mentor in my life would. I'm afraid of disappointing God in the same way and think that he is the same, but he's not because he's God. And so I've had to tell God, I'm sorry for putting you in a box that you are not in, that you are much bigger than. Amen. Hey, that's a great exercise to do right now. Seriously. Before you step away from watching this video and going to your next thing, make a list. Take out a note on your phone and make a list of, where am I wrong about you, God? And I'll just give you something to get you started. He's more loving than you think he is. He's more forgiving than you believe is ever possible. He is kinder to you than you could ever be to yourself. He is wiser than you could ever

imagine someone being. Think about what that is for you and just make that a prayer before you step away from this moment, because there's something in this. I love that. There's something in this about us repenting to God for seeing him wrongly and letting him define who he is to us again.