I have this problem that I deal with daily which is the lie that I am not ready. I will get inspired or excited about something and then a voice inside me tells me that I am not ready. Sometimes this voice tells me that I need to prepare more, which is actually a good thing, however, most of the time it is trying to disqualify me from even getting started.
Take this blog for example. I started it because I wanted to document what God was doing in my life after having finally brought some major struggles I had dealt with for decades to the surface. I allowed myself to get discouraged because I felt I did not have enough knowledge and that I was still to close to the recent pain to talk about it. Looking back now, I let this voice waste my time.
Phillipians 3:13-14
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Paul was telling the Church that he was not totally ready but he was considering the past what it is and left it there so he can move on and do the work he knows God had for him.
This doesn’t mean that our past is gone and we should forget it completely. I think that God gave Paul his past of being one who condemned and killed Christians to show just how much he can transform a life. God has done the same in me. My past happened and is what it was because I needed that to reach people for Him.
I recognize that the redemption process is a life long process and that the Lord continues to work on us as we pull the veil back on all of the areas of our lives that we need Christ’s freedom in. We will not be fully redemmed in Christ until the day He takes us up to heaven when all pain will be gone and we will fully understand all that Jesus does (Colossians 1:20-22, 2 Corinthians 3:18)
So why do I allow myself to get caught up in the lie that I am not ready to do what I feel passionate about or to do what I feel God is calling me to do? Why can’t I start on that new project even though I know there are others out there who are better than me at it? Why can’t I start writing about my walk with Christ and use scripture to the best of my understanding without the fear that my interpretation of the scripture is wrong?
God can use is even if we feel we are not ready. As long as we are striving after Jesus, we can be used. As long as we are no longer hiding in our sin but trying to be free of it, God can use us. I need to remind myself of this daily because I can easily allow the voice inside me to tell me that I am not ready, or that if I start talking about that people will attack me because of my past. What am I afraid of? I am giving myself the green light because Jesus already did.
What are you afaid of? I’m giving you the green light too.
