Imposter Syndrome 2

Galatians 5:17, Romans 7:21-25, Romans 8:9

Watch on YouTube – Watch on Facebook

Do you want to know what the hardest part is for me about being a pastor? It’s not sermon prep. It’s not working with people. It’s me. It’s my own internal struggles, you know, because I know God’s truth and I love God and I get to talk about it and I strive to live it, but yet I still struggle to live it. And I’ll give you an example.

Sometimes when it’s so hard as it was recently, I realized there is a part of my life where my thought process wasn’t glorifying God. And so I was thinking about that and praying to God to help me overcome that. And as I was doing so, I realized there was a part of me that did not want to do things God’s way. Like part of me felt like I don’t know if I want to do that. And it disturbed me, for a second. What’s wrong with me if I don’t want to follow God’s word, God’s law, God’s way? And that was hard. And I don’t like that feeling. Because I love God and I want to do things God’s way. What’s going on, that there is a part of me that didn’t?

That’s hard, when that happens, for me. How is it for you? I know it happens for you, too, because, I mean, if you love Jesus then you want to do things God’s way, but there’s also a part of you, just like there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to do things God’s way.

And I wonder if that struggle is part of why many of us often struggle with imposter syndrome. It’s that belief that there’s something about us that isn’t good enough and that even though we can do good things or say good things, we have this fear that there’s something that’s not good enough about us. And somebody is going to find out. We’re afraid that people are going to find out that there’s that part of us that isn’t good enough or in this case, that part of us that doesn’t want to do things God’s way.

Well, when I had that thought recently and when you have those experiences, those struggles, where there’s a part of you that doesn’t want to do things God’s way, I came across a verse when I was studying for our message I found to be very, very helpful for me. And it comes from the book of Galatians. And here Paul talks with how the sinful flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit.

For the sinful flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful flesh. In fact, these two continually oppose one another, so that you do not continue to do these things you want to do. (Galatians 5:17)

You and I have a sinful nature, and that’s sinful nature does not want what God wants. So when I had that thought where like I don’t know if I want to do this, the fact is, there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to do this. There wasn’t something wrong with me in that moment. What was going on in that moment is that I have a sinful nature and my sinful nature is wrong. The fact that a part of me didn’t want to do things God’s way doesn’t mean that I was a phony or that there was something wrong with me. It just means that I’m alive and I have a sinful nature. When you have a part of you that doesn’t want to do things God’s way, when you struggle to live out your faith, that doesn’t mean it’s your phony. It doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with you. It just means that you’re still alive. And for this whole life that we’re living, we’re going to have a sinful nature, and like Paul says in Galatians, it does not want what the Spirit wants.

But while that sinful nature is still there in us, it doesn’t define us. In Paul’s letter to the Romans in Chapter 7:21-25, he talks about how, if this is going on inside of us, if I sin, if sin is taking place, that it’s not me who’s doing it, it’s sin working in me. That’s not who you are anymore. See, through faith in Christ, you are connected to what Christ has done. Christ went to the cross and he died for your sins and mine. He paid the price for them there. Through faith in Christ, through baptism, we are connected to Christ. Which means that old us, that sinful us, that is against God, died there with him. The sinful nature still works against us, but that is not who we are. That old us died there with Christ, he rose again to New Life and Easter Sunday and we have a new life where we are declared right with God.

And like Paul says, we’re led by the Spirit. If you go ahead in Chapter 8 of Romans, Paul talks about how in verse 9, he says,

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit. (Romans 8:9)

And a little bit later, he talks about those who have the spirit of God, are children of God. (Romans 8:16) So you have a sinful nature going on inside of you, fighting inside of you, but that’s not who you are. You’re right with God. You’re future is eternity with him. You’re looking forward to resurrection and you are led by the Spirit, now. If you look and you like, oh, but what about this part of me that doesn’t seem good enough. Jesus has paid for that. That part of you that fights against Jesus, that’s not who you are. It’s there, but it’s there just because you’re alive and that’s part of this life. But who you are as someone who is right with God through faith in Christ.

If you’re right with God, through faith in Christ, if that thing that’s against God is just it’s not who you are, but it’s just that old sinful nature battling against you, how could you be a fake? You’re right with God. You’re a child of God. You’re led by the Spirit. How could you be an impostor?