You’re Not Unlovable, You’re Listening to a Lie

Bible teacher Jennie Allen shares how hidden lies shape our thinking and how God’s truth brings freedom.

Key Points:

We know the way we think shapes the way we live, but sometimes we don’t realise the misguided beliefs hindering our path. Bible teacher Jennie Allen wants to clear the way in her book The Lies We Don’t Know We Believe.

As the founder of IF:Gathering and a New York Times bestselling author, Jennie Allen spent years of her leadership career believing she didn’t measure up.

“I felt like I had to keep striving,” Jennie told Hope 103.2’s UNDISTRACTED podcast.

“And if I didn’t hit the mark, then what I do is meaningless.

“What’s so powerful about a relationship with God is He says, ‘Listen, I don’t need you to hit the mark, you’re free’.

“It has been life changing for me to not waste my life really striving.”

Jennie’s experience, she feels, reflects a larger issue of cultural noise drowning out the truth of God’s word.

“There’s three lies that Psych101 would tell us humans believe: I’m unlovable, I’m worthless, I’m helpless,” Jennie said.

“The entire world system is set up to feed these lies to us.

“From social media, to the fear throughout the news, to even relationships and performance in school [and] the way that we grew up in our home and what parents value.

“The system of the world [believes] you need to get as much control as you can, that you need to be as likeable and lovable as you can, that you need to hit the marks where you can because that’s all there is.

“We’ve got to go to a different source.

“We’ve got to remember the things that define us more than this world – but those things are quiet, those things are still.”

Jennie calls the kingdom of God “truth remembered”, anchoring us back in a reality beyond what the voices of social media, news or family might tell us.

“If you believe you’re worthless, you’re not going to believe or accept what God has done for you because you don’t see your value,” Jennie said.

“You don’t see yourself in the story of God and his love for you.

“We’re missing these very core central belief systems that are meant to bring us peace and comfort and joy in the midst of difficulty and trouble in the world.

“It affects everything: it affects our relationships. It affects whether we take risk for the glory of God. It takes our joy, it takes our peace.”

Even when we understand this conceptually, there are times where the lies still feel true – you are rejected, you are treated in an unloving way, you do make mistakes – when that happens, Jennie’s encouragement is to go to God again for the truth.

“He promises to keep us, that we won’t feel lost or confused, that we’ll remember who we are,” Jennie said.

“Keep showing up even with those doubts and those fears and say, ‘help me again’.

“We don’t have to shame ourselves about the lies, but to see them as invitations to come back again to the kingdom of God [and ask Him], ‘What do you say? Who are you? How do I make sense of this?

“I think that’s what he wants more than anything is for us just to need him and to walk with him.”

Jennie Allen’s book The Lies We Don’t Know We Believe is out now.

Listen to the full episode of UNDISTRACTED with Jennie Allen in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.

Feature image: Supplied (HarperCollins)