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

Day Two: You Are What You Experience

In this devotional, we’re looking at the empty promises of the gig economy in which we live. It is making all of us vulnerable to believing, embracing, and living seven lies that can have dangerous consequences. 

The most authentic freedom and flexibility, however, can only be found when we stop believing these lies and replace them with the truth of who we are in Christ.

On Day One, we looked at Lie #1: You are what you do. Today, we consider Lie #2: You are what you experience, and the truth that refutes it. 

Lie #2 - You are what you experience.

Experiences have become the new currency. Amassing stuff and getting things aren’t as valuable anymore. And even when we buy those new things, we’re often buying them for the experiences that they'll help create. 

This lie that we are what we experience isn’t fair because the odds are stacked against us. While it’s great that social media gives us the opportunity to stay connected with our friends and family, our perception of reality gets distorted the longer we spend on it. For example, when’s the last time you were scrolling through social media and noticed your best friend on vacation at the beach, a picture of a delicious meal from a coworker on a business trip, and your friend’s new kitchen remodel, while you’re sitting on your sunken in couch, eating leftovers, and watching re-runs of Fixer Upper?

It’s impossible not to compare! Sure, you can like their photos and try to be happy for them, but when you only see their Instagram-worthy photos and not everything else that’s going on behind-the-scenes for them—like the credit card debt used to finance that vacation and new kitchen, or the fact that your coworker is eating by himself at a restaurant while his family is thousands of miles away at home—it’s impossible not to fall into the trap of comparison.

Our perception of their reality is distorted, since we only see the good times they’re experiencing. After all, who takes a photo of their past-due bills? Of their children fighting? Of their stained carpet and scratched up coffee table? Or, even better, of their picturesque laminate countertop, without a backsplash? No, God forbid that we post such things! It’d be too real and authentic.

This is how our perception of reality gets distorted, and why it’s so easy to believe this lie. We’re living in a constant state of comparison—not out of conscious choice, it’s just a part of the air we’re breathing. 

Comparison is a zero-sum game. And underneath it all, there is no end to this lie. There is always more comparison. Instead of quenching the flames of jealousy and envy in our hearts, experiences end up fanning them. Because once the experience is over, it’s over. Sure, you can buy a souvenir or make a scrapbook to commemorate that experience, but that’ll only last so long until you want another experience, another high.

Truth #2 - More experiences only lead to a life filled with jealousy and envy.

King Solomon wrote that jealousy is the very thing that drives our grinding, hustling, striving, and working (Ecclesiastes 4:4). And after building his life on this shaky foundation and getting to the top—having experienced everything that there is to experience—he responded with these words.

All things are wearisome,
more than anyone can say.
The eye is not satisfied by seeing
or the ear filled with hearing.

What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Can one say about anything,
“Look, this is new”?
It has already existed in the ages before us.

There is no remembrance of those who came before;
and of those who will come after
there will also be no remembrance
by those who follow them. 

(Ecclesiastes 1:8-11) 

Experiences are temporary, and a life driven to get more, do more, and have more experiences will only lead you further down a path that you might already be familiar with—a life filled with jealousy and envy.

Prayer: Father, I confess the way that I’ve chased after experiences, which only leads to the traps of comparison, jealousy, and envy. Free me from this lie so that I may walk more closely with Christ. I commit myself into your hands. In your name I pray, Amen.