Do you know the real Jesus? 

Many of us carry our hurts, expectations and experiences from the world – and unknowingly let them colour the way we see God or approach Him.

What you really believe goes on to determine your daily actions. And eventually, your days come to define your destiny. So let’s make sure we don’t believe the following statements…

“Get your life cleaned up before you come to me”

We know that God is… well, God. He’s holy. And when we understand that we are a sinful people, it can be all too natural to feel like you can’t approach a God of light in whom there is no darkness.

But we also forget that this God is the same God who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.

So who told you to stay in the darkness until you figure things out? 

Trying to cover up our shame is human nature. We have been sewing fig leaves to hide our nakedness since the dawn of time.

But God doesn’t need that. He sees through all of it – the walls we put up, the performances and punishments we make ourselves go through – and He says you don’t have to do all that.

1 John 1:9-10 tells us: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

That’s it. Forgiveness is not that deep. All you need is the blood of Jesus. Get clean is His portion, come clean is ours. 

“I will take all your troubles away from you”

Some of us hold the misconception that by choosing to believe in God, He is going to solve all our problems and make all our troubles go away. 

We need to make sure we don’t mishear and don’t misunderstand what Jesus says and promises.

Jesus explicitly said that we would have trouble in this world; our lives on earth will certainly have their downs and stormy seasons.

But Jesus also said right after that, that we could take heart in Him because He has overcome the world.

Life can be difficult, but we will find encouragement in our Saviour. Jesus did not promise convenience through Him, but communion with Him – and that is the better thing.

“I am going to give you everything you want”

“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:13-14)

We read a verse like this and our eyes light up. Anything? But here is where the highlighter should really go: so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

God moves for His glory, not so much because we did X or didn’t do Y. So, we shouldn’t get it twisted. God loves to bless His children, but He puts blessing into our hand with the chief objective that He gets the glory.

And God’s glory is not about using us to set off cosmic fireworks.

On this side of eternity, we glimpse and partake in God’s glory when we witness beauty, encounter majesty and taste magnificence. We see it in mountains that touch the sky and oceans that swell and stretch into the horizon. We also see it when an invisible kindness is extended to a stranger… when the Gospel transforms the lowliest places.

God’s glory is perfection, and so manifoldly beautiful we cannot even begin to define it – but we can always feel it in part. And in heaven, we shall know His glory in its fullness.

While God may not give us everything we want, we can trust that…

• God will supply every need of ours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus
• We can be vessels for God’s glory even if we’re still going through it or still waiting for an answered prayer

God’s blessings might not necessarily look like a bigger number in your bank account or a happy ending – but He promises to meet your needs when you ask.

With the right posture and prayer, God will put into your hands all that you need, that which will bear fruits with faithfulness and time – bringing true fulfilment to your life and eternal glory to Him.