Imposter Syndrome
Maybe you’re like me or somewhat like me…
Maybe, like me, God has told you that you’re free from lust, and you said, “Hmm, I don’t feel free, oh; this one I still dey mess up.”
Or God says you’re a new creation in Christ Jesus, but you feel otherwise.
Maybe like me, you struggle with this form of imposter syndrome.
A form whereby God says we’re one thing, but because certain things seem to point in the other direction, we start to doubt what God has spoken over us. (How naive 🥲)
Even Abraham and Naomi struggled with this.
In the first century, names were often tied to a person’s character, destiny, circumstance of birth, or God’s revelation.
And Abraham was no different. (Genesis 17 vs 5)
“Abraham” in Hebrew means “father of many”, and for him that was very paradoxical because he was not only not a father of many children, he wasn’t a father of any!. Therefore making it hard for him to trust what God has promised to him (Genesis 17 vs 17)
And in the case of Naomi (Ruth 1 vs 20-21), she chose to call herself Mara, which means “bitter”, because of her situation (Ruth 1 vs 3-5). Meanwhile, God had called her sweet (Naomi in Hebrew means 'sweet').
And in the same way, God calls you a child of God, a new creation in Christ Jesus, his masterpiece, etc.
He says you have a new life and the old life is gone and says we are no longer slaves to sin.
And maybe, like me, you feel otherwise because the sin is glaring, or, like Naomi, you’ve hit rock bottom.
But to God, all those things he calls us have already manifested themselves. God isn’t bound by time. Unlike us, he sees the full picture at once.
Romans 11 vs 29 says, “For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.”
And this is because his gifts and calling are rooted in his faithfulness, not ours.
Imposter syndrome doesn’t tell the full story.
Abraham wasn’t a father of any at that moment, and neither was Naomi’s life going sweet, but that wasn’t the end of their stories.
And neither would your situation nor your mistake be the end of your story. It’s still unfolding, so don’t fold.
This isn’t over.
