A Jenga Tower

Perhaps you've played the game as a child. You bite your lower lip, trying to pull out the block stacked alongside several others in a pattern that alternates back and forth. Everyone is holding their breath, hoping the tower doesn't fall. The blocks are all supported by each other, built up into what ends up looking like a precariously placed Leaning Tower of Piza. Finally, too many blocks have been taken out of the stack, and the whole Jenga tower comes crashing down.

This is how I think about the lies of the enemy. Each lie is a block stacked one on top of another until you have the complete tower of lies looming ominously before you.

In John 8, Jesus talks with the religious Jews about such lies. He explains how dangerous these lies are to believe, and how problematic it is when we believe them.

"You are of your Father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44

Here Jesus talks about Satan as "the father of lies" which means he is their source. This is pretty intimidating to me. Especially considering how he is described in 1 Peter 5:8

"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8

While this sounds terrifying to me, I have learned that the structure of Satan's lies is built like a Jenga tower, one on top of another. This is actually very encouraging because it means that if I can take down one lie, the others lose their stability.

Think of the Jenga blocks. Just as each one is resting on the support of several others, so Satan's lies are all built up on each other. As soon as you knock out one lie, the rest of them become unstable until eventually the whole stack of them comes crashing down.

For example, I recently started attacking the lie that I don't belong. I started to question what determines whether or not someone belongs, and what God says about this. Because I have been saved through Jesus Christ's death on the cross for me, I know that all the truths found within the Scriptures concerning those found in Christ are true of me. Furthermore, if you've placed your faith in Jesus Christ, they are true of you too! God declares that now that we are found in Christ, we belong with God in Heaven and in the family of God, His church.

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28

This sounds like belonging to me. Sometimes I note that it seems like I am just a little bit different from those around me, but the reality is that we are all unique in how God has created us, but we are all one in Christ Jesus. We belong together because we are in the family of God. At the very least, I know that whether I feel as if I belong in a particular church, I know that I belong with God Himself.

Now that I've broken down this lie, I start to realize how many of the others don't make any sense anymore. I start to notice that if I belong, I start to open up and share my sin struggles with transparency and watch as my sisters in Christ support and stand by my fight for righteousness. Pretty soon, I find myself loved where once I believed the lie that I am unloved. From there, I start to think of the lie that I have no worth. That is clearly wrong because God found me worthy of the death of His Son Jesus Christ, and this was not because of anything that I had done, but simply because of His love for me. That cycles back to the concept that I am loved. Even if my church family started to send me the message that I am unloved, I know that God loves me unconditionally, finds me worthy, and says that I belong with Him.

Pretty soon, I wonder if any of the other lies I've believed can even hold up. How about the idea that I'm not good enough? Well, the gospel says that I am not good enough, but Jesus Christ is good enough on my behalf, so I don't need to despair.

The Jenga tower crashes down in light of the gospel. One Lie gets knocked out and pretty soon the rest of them are self-evidently refuted.

I hope this encourages you today. Sometimes healing and breakthroughs take years of grappling with the lies that Satan throws at us; but once we put on the armor of God, replacing even just one lie with truth, the whole system is quickly thrown down in light of the gospel. A breakthrough can happen quickly, and you may be surprised how far you can come all at once, as the darkness clears.

Take courage, my friend and start today by displacing one lie with the Truth.