Breaking Free from the Lies We’ve Believed About God and Ourselves

God’s desire is to free you from the prison of people’s opinions so you can truly worship Him, serve Him, and follow His calling without chains. The truth is, many of us came to Christ not because we loved Him deeply, but because we feared hell. I know I did. I wanted to escape the terrible place I’d heard described, and that fear, not love, brought me through the church doors.

But when I truly encountered the gospel of grace, it was like putting on a new pair of glasses. I realized that much of what I had been taught for decades didn’t align with God’s Word. Grace revealed a God of love, not just a judge ready to punish. Through Jesus, the Judge became our Father, and the fire of wrath was replaced with the gift of salvation.

That shift cost me friends in ministry. People called me crazy, but I was simply set free—from legalism, from fear-based giving, and most importantly, from the need for human approval. Galatians 1 tells us plainly: if we live to please people, we cannot serve God.

The roots of self-deception go all the way back to Eden. Pride convinces us that our own understanding is greater than God’s wisdom. Our desires become idols, rising above God’s truth. Spiritual blindness—caused by sin and the enemy—veils the minds of those who don’t believe, keeping them from knowing the truth about God and even the truth about themselves.

And here’s the hard part: sometimes that blindness continues even after we’re saved. We’re told over and over that we’re nothing but sinners, while God has declared us innocent through Christ. The lie you believe about yourself can paralyze you, just as it did Israel in the wilderness when they saw themselves as grasshoppers instead of God’s chosen people.

You are not righteous because of your flawless behavior—you are righteous because of Jesus. If we want God’s best, we cannot live in self-deception. We must let the light of the gospel remove the veil, teaching us to see from God’s perspective and to live in the truth that sets us free.

So today, I call you free—free from the weight of human opinion, free from the lies of the past, free to walk in the grace that Jesus purchased for you.