Unlearning for Lent - I am what I accomplish

Throughout our lives we absorb stories about God, about ourselves, and about the world. Lent invites us to gently lay some of these stories down. In each post in this Lenten series, Pastor Nate will name one belief that may no longer be serving our faith and explore how Christ reshapes it.

And one of the first stories many of us need to unlearn is this one: I am what I accomplish.
It’s such a subtle belief that we rarely name it. We measure our days by what got done. We measure our worth by how useful we’ve been. Even our faith can slip into this mindset and become about how much we serve, how much we give, how much we show up.

Luke 10 features a story where Jesus gently disrupts this idea. Martha is busy, productive, responsible. Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet. And when Martha asks Jesus to correct her sister for note being more productive, he doesn’t scold her effort, rather he simply says that Mary has chosen what is better.

Not because productivity is bad. But because presence comes first.
Before we do anything for God, we are invited to be with God. Before we prove our value, we are named beloved.

The promise of the Gospel is that our worth is never tied to our output, it was secured long before we accomplished anything.

Reflection questions:
Where have you quietly begun to believe that your value depends on what you produce?
This Lent, what might it look like to rest from proving yourself?