Imposter Syndrome 1

Deuteronomy 9:6, Zephaniah 3:17

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So I don’t know, I don’t know if I’m, if I should do this. Like I know, I know I made a lot of videos for church before and people tell me they’re pretty, they’re really good, but I just they don’t know, like, I’m not actually, it’s not, they’re not as good as people say they are. I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t, maybe I shouldn’t make this video. Or if I do, I need to make sure I got to get it down. I got to get it, I got to get everything word for word, perfect before I can do this.

You ever thought like that? You know, if you have an opportunity in front of you and ever thought that, OK, I don’t know if I’m gifted to do it, even though, even though people have told you and you’ve had success. Or if you ever thought, OK, there’s an opportunity in front of me, but I just I got to make sure it’s perfect before I can do it. If you’ve had thoughts like that, you’ve had thoughts that are typically associated with something called imposter syndrome.

It’s this belief, this being certain that there’s something about me that isn’t quite good enough. And even though people have said or even though you’ve had great successes, you’re still convinced that you’re not good enough. Maybe you’ve been able to fool people into thinking that you’ve been pretty good, but you’re afraid that people are going to find out that you’re really not that good. Or you’re really not good enough. And so what happens with this often is, procrastination or you kind of hold back because you don’t want to try it. Because what if people find out you’re not that good or the other side is perfectionism, where you just have to have it be perfect because people can’t find out that you’re not perfect.

We don’t have time to get into all the details of what imposter syndrome is. But one of the great things about God’s word is that we can really get right to the core of some things. And so we’re going to spend here a few videos and we’re to have God’s word speak right to the core of what’s going on with imposter syndrome.

Why do we feel like there’s a part of us that isn’t good enough, that doesn’t measure up? Well, because naturally none of us do. When our parents, Adam and Eve, turn away from God, when they sinned, they started missing the mark. Missing the mark of what? Of God’s law. And why is God’s law what it is? God’s law is what it is because of God’s law tells us how we were meant to live, what we were created to be. And all of us now are born into sin, which means we born missing the mark of what we were meant to be.

Yeah, naturally we’re not enough. And so, like Adam and Eve, what did they do afterwards? They went, they hid from God, they hid from each other. Because when you know you’re not enough, you’re terrified people are going to find out. But when you realize that we’re not enough, here’s something to bring some encouragement. And it might seem kind of strange at first of a place to go, but we’re going go to Deuteronomy 9:6. God is talking about the people of Israel. And he says,

Know, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, because a stiff-necked people is what you are. (Deuteronomy 9:6)

It doesn’t seem very encouraging. It’s not because of your righteousness. You’re stiff necked. But here’s why I find it comforting. When God chose the people of Israel, he didn’t, he wasn’t fooled. He didn’t have some false idea that they were going to be this great people. He knew totally what he was getting himself into. He knew they would be stubborn. He knew that they would turn away, but he still chose them. And he chose them by grace. And these same stiff neck people, he also says in Zephaniah 3, he says,

The Lord your God is with you as a hero who will save you. He takes great delight in you. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)

See God is such a God of grace that he knows our flaws. He knows our sins completely and yet loves us fully. Now, if God knows you completely, could there be anything that you would need to hide from him? He knows everything about you and he loves you fully. He loves you so much. He delights in you so much that Jesus became one of us to live that perfect life. We were meant to live, but don’t. To lay down his life, to die on a cross, to rise again, to give us new life with God so we could be declared right with God.

If God knows you fully and God loves you completely, what is there to hide?

How could you be an impostor?