Set Free

“We strive to be seen, to be known, to matter. We’re desperate to believe we are doing a good job at whatever has been entrusted to us. But we are not enough. We are not God. We don’t have all the answers, all the wisdom, all the strength, all the energy. We are finite, sinful beings. And that is okay.

In fact, it is the confession that unleashes the freedom we are aching for.”

Jennie Allen, in her book “Nothing to Prove”

We all long to live our lives free but we walk through life weighed down by burdens. These burdens can be shame, fears, pressures and different types of difficulties. Here’s an example of what our thoughts can look like when we carry around burdens:

“I’m not worthy.

I’m a fraud.

I can’t measure up.

I’m too weak.

I can’t do this.

I don’t know what I should do.

I feel helpless.

I’m going to fail.

People will get mad.

I won’t be liked.”

Fear, pressure, shame, we carry them around year after year and they drain us of energy and steal our joy and peace. We worry that we aren’t enough and here’s the scary and beautiful truth: It’s true, we are not enough, but God is. We don’t get very far when we try different strategies to help ourselves get better self-esteem or more confidence, because deep on the inside we know that we are not enough. Our failures and inadequacies don’t come as a surprise to God. God could have chosen to make us perfect but instead he made us human. Why? Because we were created to function not on our own, but in a relationship with God. We were never meant to live this life alone so when we insist on leaving God out of the picture we end up burdened down by fears, pressures, shame and difficulties that overwhelm us.

There will be no freedom for us until we are willing to say this out loud to God: “I am not enough.” Freedom is only possible after we have named and confessed our failures, fears, pressures and our shame to God. God’s forgiveness becomes available to us immediately once we confess our failures, but until we do that they won’t go away, they will continue to weigh us down. God wants to set us free from the need to measure up, free from all our burdens and free from the pain of never being enough. It starts with our confession. Once we name and confess our burdens we receive God’s beautiful grace.

When we come to God and let him give us His forgiveness, grace and love we become free, empowered and filled with his joy and peace. We can now finally see ourselves the way God sees us, and it makes us completely free. God’s love takes away all our pressures and the need for striving. When we come to God with our failures we receive His forgiveness and the freedom that follows. When we come to God with our fear we receive the courage we need. When we come to God with our difficulties in life we receive the strength we need for each battle. It’s always an exchange, a relationship between us and God.

The fact that every single one of us carry around a feeling of not being enough isn’t a sign that we’re worthless, it’s a sign that we need God. But the pride inside our hearts keep pushing God away. We don’t want to need God. Here’s another truth: every single one of us knows that God is real, we know this deep inside our souls. But we don’t want God, we suppress the knowledge of God. We push God out of our hearts and out of our minds. 

Each one of us wants to be “the God of our own lives” and we understand that if we were to acknowledge God it would change everything about how we live our lives. We don’t want that. We want the throne, so we keep pushing God off the throne, but that doesn’t change the fact that God is still God. I can choose to deny God, but I can’t make God go away. But once you have tasted and felt His love you never want to live separated from Him again. There’s nothing else on Earth like God’s love, nothing else even comes close to being as amazing. God’s love is what sets my soul free.