7 Lies The World Tells Us, 7 Biblical Truths That God Tells UsSample

Day Seven: You Are Your Past 

Our seven-day devotional ends today with the 7th lie we believe from the gig economy. 

As we’ve seen during the last six days, the gig economy affects every facet of our everyday lives and convinces us that these lies are true: 

• You are what you do.
• You are what you experience.
• You are who you know.
• You are what you know.
• You are what you own. 

Each of these, including today’s lie, convinces us that the only path to freedom and flexibility is through believing them.

The truth, however, is that true freedom and flexibility can only be found when we place our trust in Christ.

Today, we conclude our devotional with Lie #7: You are your past, and the truth that refutes it. 

Lie #7 - You are your past.

When we came back from Korea (after leaving abruptly when I lost my pastoral job working in a megachurch of 50,000), I wanted that chapter of my life closed. I never wanted to reopen it again. So I did the very thing that I had decades of experience observing and doing—I compartmentalized it.

Healthcare workers know what I’m talking about. For them, compartmentalizing seems to be a learned skill. After all, how else would you expect them to deal with the amount of grief, death, sickness, and trauma they encounter on a regular basis? So instead of debriefing and processing what happens, many of them simply push their emotions down or try and forget what happened through one means or another.

As much as I tried to compartmentalize away everything that had happened in Korea, it kept on rearing its ugly head. I found myself hesitant to trust others because I didn’t want to risk getting hurt. I also realized I was becoming reluctant to pray for others because I didn’t want to be disappointed. And having hope that things were going to work out was absent because I didn’t want to risk being let down. Until I fully faced and revisited what had happened, the past would just keep on coming up.

Compartmentalizing the past just doesn’t work. It’s like putting a Band-Aid on an infected cut without first treating it. You have the illusion of healing, while the problem just continues to spread underneath the surface.

No wonder compartmentalizing is getting so much press—it seems to be the only way to stay sane. Since juggling multiple jobs and believing the lie that we are what we do is normal in the gig economy, compartmentalizing has become the way to keep things separate. It’s even been advocated as a way to increase productivity! So if you’re working three jobs, the most productive thing to do is to have three identities that are separate and each in its own compartment...so goes the lie.

Truth #7 - God redeems, restores, and transforms your past to give you a path to the future.

Technically speaking, ashes are the opposite of life. They represent the end, not the beginning. They are evidence of irreversible death and destruction. They are also a symbol of the past and a memorial of things that both helped and hurt. Just consider the aftermath of a campfire, a building that burns to the ground, or a body that’s cremated. There’s nothing you can do with the ashes. All practical functionality is gone and there’s no chance of recovery—technically speaking.

However, when you look at the way that the word is used in the Bible, ashes represent more than just death and destruction. In Isaiah 61:3, “To give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,” seems to point to a deeper purpose for the ashes in our lives. It seems to suggest that ashes are not just a symbol of the past, but actually the path to the future. 

And instead of burying, scattering, or ignoring the ashes of your past, it seems to suggest that there’s another option—the option of offering your past to someone who has the power to create new life. Someone who holds the power to redeem, restore, and transform the ashes of your past into a crown of beauty.

In passages like this one, the book of Isaiah is preparing the way for the New Testament by foreshadowing not only what is to come, but who is to come. And in this particular instance, the foreshadow is about a Savior who will, among many other things, replace the ashes we’re sitting in with a crown of beauty—particularly for those who are hurting, brokenhearted, and captive to the lies of our age.

This Savior will not only heal our past, but will also redeem, restore, and replace our brokenness with beauty. I love what it says in another part of Isaiah,

Do not remember the past events,
pay no attention to things of old.
Look, I am about to do something new;
even now it is coming. Do you not see it?
Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:18-19) 

When we approach Jesus in humility and offer him the ashes of our lives, rather than burying, scattering, ignoring, or compartmentalizing them, he promises to take the ashes of our past and transform them into a crown of beauty by redeeming, restoring, and healing us.

Prayer: Father God, thank you that my past does not define my future. I praise you for the crown of beauty that’s promised to me because of Christ’s work on my behalf. Keep me focused on the truth of redemption, restoration, and healing that’s mine because I’m yours. Amen.  

Conclusion

You are not what you do. You are not what you experience. You are not who you know. You are not what you know. You are not what you own. You are not who you raise. And you are definitely not your past.

Living in chains to the seven lies of the gig economy is tiring. It’s a grind and a hustle just to try and keep up. It’s actually a fool’s game because you will never feel caught up. 

Freedom cannot be found in anyone else or through anything else—including and especially through these lies—because it’s only through Jesus that you can experience true freedom. And here’s the truth about freedom, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.” (John 8:34-36)

When you decide to lay down these seven lies—and any other foundation you have been building your life upon—and instead decide to follow Jesus, your status will change from slave to child. From enslaved to free. From no inheritance to full inheritance. From worker to heir. From being defined by what you do, what you experience, who you know, what you know, what you own, who you raise, and your past, to being defined by what Jesus has done for you. Essentially, from ashes to beauty.

Jesus has already fulfilled all the requirements for freedom on your behalf. All you have to do is come to him, admit you’re broken and in need, and give him your life. Then and only then will you finally find rest from the hustle, grind, and go of the gig economy.

This plan was adapted from You Are What You Do (And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love) by Daniel Im. Visit danielim.com/youare to find out more.