Spin

S

I remember as a teenager taking a corner too fast on a snowy road in my step-dad’s car. The car spun out of control and slammed into the side of the street. My brother got out to assess the damage while I sat anxiously inside. Through the front windshield I read his lips:

“You’re dead.”

Sometimes life’s like this. We hit an icy stretch, we mess up, and we long to hear from a loving Father. Instead, it feels like we’re just reading lips through a foggy windshield. And it’s not good news.

The reality is you have an enemy who is constantly giving you his interpretation of what’s happening, his spin, which always includes something terrible about you or God.

You deserve bad things.
God’s fed up with you.
What’s wrong with you?
Tell the truth and it’ll ruin your life.
That tempts you? You’re sick.
You can’t rely on God in the real world.  

There are a million more. Sometimes they’re very subtle. And they come at us all the time (see Rev. 12:10b).

Jesus warned us the enemy is like this: “[The devil] is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). And he told us what satan’s goal is: “The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10).

Life’s hard enough. We need a better, more reliable interpreter than this.

Enter Jesus.

His cross shatters foul interpretations. Try it. Read again through the list above, this time picturing Christ on the cross for you.

When my brother got back in the car, I found out he hadn’t said, “You’re dead,” but, “You’re lucky.”

In an instant, everything was different.

What about you? Might you need Christ to reinterpret some area for you? If you’re not sure, a great place to start is simply to ask Jesus to expose the places you’ve been believing a faulty interpretation. Then ask him to be your new interpreter—to open your ears, eyes, mind, and heart to what he has to say.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback or questions. Leave a comment below. Have you experienced faulty interpretations that impacted you negatively? What did you do about it? Where in your life right now might you be buying the enemy’s interpretation?

Lucky,
Josh

P.S. If this post is helpful to you, please forward it to someone else who will also benefit.

Thanks For Reading.

You can receive more like this when you join Regen’s weekly newsletter, which includes 1 article, and 2 new Podcasts exploring God’s good, holy, and beautiful design for sexuality. Over 3,000 people subscribe. Enter your email now and join us.

5 comments

Leave a Reply to Jennifer Cancel reply

  • Very timely word today Josh. I’ve been going through a struggle these past few months feeling unsettled etc. with some things and this just really ministered to me today as I read this. Thanks for your obedience to the Holy Spirit. Many blessings to you as you continue to following HIS will!

  • Sometimes I pray for God to show me His truth. I repeat it ovet and over to bury what is false and put my focus on Christ.

    • I do, too, Jennifer; and I find this particularly helpful when the truth I’m repeating to myself speaks to me. Meaning, I usually give the most energy to meditating on the scriptural truths I believe God is speaking to me in any given season. It’s kind of my way of saying to my Father, “I hear you, and I agree with you.”

By Josh Glaser

Our Latest Offerings