permission to choose “i am”
On the Other Side of Less-Than
This is so important that I am going to *attempt to make a long-ish story short-ish. Because of this, I’ll skip how this all came to be and tell you where you are now or have likely found yourself in the very recent past.
Feeling less-than.
Which basically brings me to how to get you from less-than to the other side of less-than. And do you know what is on the other side of less-than? (This isn’t a trick question, so no need to thing super hard about this.) It’s greater-than.
Just think back to elementary school math problems, where the pacman (> or <) symbol ate the bigger bowl of ice cream or however they used to teach that to us. This is a simple equation of less-than and greater-than.
Allow me to explain.
A person, situation, crisis, or comparison has you feeling less-than. What’s on the other side? Greater-than. Now, here’s the better question: WHO is on the other side? For this, we can go straight to the Bible.
“He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4
It even says greater-than right there in the sentence, likely so that we don’t get confused! If we’re talking less-than and greater-than -- we’ve got our players right here. God is greater-than. The enemy (in the world) is less-than. So where do you fit in?
Well, if you’re feeling less-than...that’s whose side you’re on right now. You’re sitting with the devil himself (which may sound harsh, until you realize that he’s the one making you feel how you’re feeling -- less-than.)
The way I see it, you’ve got 3 options.
Entertain your feelings: Feeling less-than? Great! Feel it. Believe it. Spiral out of control into a pile of self-pity. It’s always surprising how quickly a lie can take hold of our thoughts and our emotions and sink all the way down into our hearts. Less-than. A lie, but for these moments, nothing is more true to you. You’re on the side of “I feel.” The good news is that you’re not that far away from greater-than. As soon as you realize you’re believing a less-than lie, you’re practically already on the side of the greater-than Truth.
Ignore the problem: You can’t stay exactly where you are in less-than land. Won’t, actually, because even choosing not to move will eventually cause your demise. Ignoring, shoving, sealing, and all of the other things we do to pretend we’re fine when we’re not is choosing the worst possible scenario of the three. A downward spiral that’s so sneaky, so slow that you may not even notice until you come-to, look around for any signs of life, and are now stuck with the horrible reality that you don’t know how you got there! Girl, I see you. I’ve done this before. I’ve chosen to not choose and found myself in a world of pain and confusion.
Take your thoughts captive: This is our best option, if you couldn’t tell. Quickly recognizing that on the side of less-than, only chaos, confusion, and loose feelings exist. Along with the enemy, feeding you lines you know by heart, because you’ve been here before. So you take that familiar soundtrack, recognize it for the lie that it is, and then choose to replace it with the truth. And just like that, you’re on the side of greater-than, with He who is greater-than. You’ve moved from “I feel” to “I am”...you’ve moved from feelings to facts. Now this is not to say that our Greater-Than God wasn’t with you on the other side -- we know that’s not true, because of His consistent character and great love for us, His kids! But you still have the power and responsibility to choose to agree with Him. To believe about yourself what He believes about you. To join Him in the truth of greater-than.
And there’s our math lesson for today. Our life lesson. To choose the labor of loving yourself well by taking every loose thought and emotion and impulse, and fitting it into a life shaped by Christ. Remembering that we’re worth fighting for because of who we are and Whose we are. You are not less-than, my dear sweet friend. You are greater-than he who is in the world. You’ve already overcome him -- so don’t let him fool you into believing he’s got any power or control of your heart, your mind, or your life.
Today, remember that you have permission to choose “I am” over “I feel.”
xoxo,
Lisa
P.S. This full conversation is on this week’s episode of the Megaphone Podcast. Watch the video if you’re wanting to see this visual in all of its glory, in its original form. (Basically I scribbled it all down with a blue marker. It’s epic.)