You can change

Lee suffered from panic attacks. In time they became self-reinforcing. The fear of an attack would induce another one.

He would phone me three or four times a week. Each time I would speak the truth to him. We developed some catchphrases: ‘God is greater than your thoughts.’ ‘Not “what if ?” but “what is”, and what is, is that God is in control.’ The truth set him free.

The truth of God’s sovereignty brought peace, and with it a new realisation of the centrality of God and his glory. It wasn’t instantaneous. Each day brought a fresh struggle to believe. Another of our catchphrases was: ‘Yesterday was a victory, today is another battle.’ But in time the panic attacks went away.

True freedom

We find true freedom in embracing God’s reign over our lives and trusting his reign to be wise and good. This is the interpretation of life that brings joy and peace. But in the garden of Eden the serpent persuaded Eve to doubt the goodness of God’s rule. Satan offered a different worldview, one that portrayed God as a tyrant whose rule should be rejected. Eve took the fruit because she believed this lie about God. Sin began with humanity disbelieving God’s word.

Behind every sin and negative emotion is a lie

Sinful acts always have their origin in some form of unbelief. Behind every sin is a lie. The root of all our behaviour and emotions is the heart: what it trusts and what it treasures. People are given over to sinful desires because ‘they ex-changed the truth of God for a lie’ (Romans 1.24-25).

‘So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more’ (Ephesians 4.17-19).

Humanity’s problem is futile thinking, darkened understanding and ignorant hearts. This is the cause of indulgence, impurity and lust. We sin because we believe the lie that we are better off without God, that his rule is oppressive, that we will be free without him, that sin offers more than God. This is true of every sin and every negative emotion.

Often we can identify specific lies behind specific sinful acts and emotions. I may envy, steal or be anxious about money because I believe the lie that consumer goods give meaning to my life or because I believe that God doesn’t care for me. I may commit adultery or get depressed about my singleness because I believe the lie that intimacy with another person will give me more than God can give me.

Believing a lie

Not many people think of themselves as someone who believes lies! But every time we don’t trust God’s word we’re believing something else, and that something is always a lie. If I get angry when I’m struck in traffic it’s because I don’t trust God. I believe the lie that God isn’t in control or that his purposes for me are not good. If I overwork it’s because I don’t trust God, perhaps because I believe the lie that I need to prove or justify myself. This is a radical view of sin. It means many of our negative emotions are sinful because they’re symptoms of unbelief — the greatest sin and the root sin. Whenever we’re depressed or bitter, it’s because we believe God isn’t being good to us or that he’s not in control. ‘Everything that does not come from faith is sin’ (Romans 14.23).

Not many Christians think of themselves as unbelievers. After all, we normally use the term to describe people who aren’t Christians at all. Most of us can happily sign up to the creeds of our church. But our problems rarely arise from a lack of belief in a confessional or theoretical sense, though this may be the case. More often they arise from functional or practical disbelief. The problems lie in the gap between what we believe in theory and what we believe in practice.

On Sunday morning I sing of my belief in justification by faith (confessional faith), but on Monday morning I still feel the need to prove myself (functional disbelief). Or I may believe I’ll be acquitted on the day of judgment, but still want to justify myself in an argument tomorrow. I may affirm that God is sovereign (confessional faith), but still get anxious when I can’t control my life (functional disbelief). Sanctification is the progressive narrowing of the gap between confessional faith and functional faith.

The truth shall set you free

Recognising that behind every sin is a lie not only gives us a radical view of sin, it points us to the road out of sinful behaviour and emotions. That road is trust in God.

‘The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life’ (Proverbs 4.18-23).

Proverbs describes the road of trust in God as ‘like the first gleam of dawn’. Maybe you feel as if you’re in darkness, trapped in your behaviour, with negative emotions weighing heavily upon you. Seeing them as symptoms of unbelief can be like the first gleam of dawn. Hope dawns with the realisation that the answer is found in looking to God. It’s a long road that takes a lifetime to travel, but with every step the light of God’s goodness shines ‘ever brighter till the full light of day’. We follow this road by paying attention to the word of God (4.20-21). God’s word is our road map. The gracious promises of God give true life and health (4.22). The truth will guard our hearts and therefore our lives (4.23).

Trusting in our own strength

‘This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit”’ (Jeremiah 17.5-8).

Jeremiah uses a different picture. People who trust in their own strength are like barren trees in a desert. Maybe that’s how you feel, as if you are running on empty, thirsty for something more. Life feels fruitless and pointless. God says that people who trust in him are like trees planted by water, which never fail to bear fruit. That doesn’t mean they have an easy life. The scorching heat comes on them. But their roots go down into the refreshing waters of God’s word. Faith in God sustains them and keeps them fruitful in the midst of adversity.

Finding freedom

‘Everyone who sins is a slave to sin’, says Jesus (John 8.34). People feel trapped in their negative behaviour or emotions. They feel that they can’t change. And in one sense they can’t. Trying to change behaviour alone doesn’t work because the lies that create that behaviour are still there. But Jesus says: ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’ (John 8.31,32). Just as lies about God lead to the slavery of sin, so the truth about God leads to the freedom of service (Galatians 5.1,13). The truth that sets us free is the gospel (‘if you hold to my teaching’). Freedom is found in the truth that we were made to worship God, to serve God, to trust God. Freedom is found in acknowledging that we are responsible for the mess we have made of our lives, that our problems are rooted in our hearts, that we deserve God’s judgment, that we desperately need God. Freedom is found in accepting that God is in control of our lives, that he is gracious, that he forgives those who come to him in faith. Paul says: ‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives’ (Titus 2.11,12).

Often we can be specific about the truth that will set us free from the lies than enslave us. If I’m enslaved by my worries, then freedom is found in trusting the sovereign care of my heavenly Father. If I’m enslaved by the need to prove myself, then freedom is found in trusting that I’m fully justified in God’s sight through the atoning work of Christ.

This article is an extract from You Can Change by Tim Chester, IVP, £7.99, ISBN 978-1844743032, and is used by permission of the publishers.