Do You Struggle with Spiritual Imposter Syndrome?

When people struggle with imposter syndrome, it is usually because they feel like their inner world doesn’t match their outer persona. Imposter syndrome makes you think your struggle is unique. Oddly enough, imposter syndrome is not unique. One study found that about 70% of people have experienced at least some form of imposter syndrome.[1]

Here are a few diagnostic questions to determine if you might be struggling with this:

• Do you constantly compare your spiritual walk to others? Comparison is the soil in which imposter syndrome comes alive.
• Do you worry that others will “find out” you’re not as spiritual as they think? Fear of being exposed as a fraud is a hallmark of imposter syndrome.
• Are you able to celebrate spiritual “victories”? Imposters feel like they do not deserve anything good. These celebrations might even make you nervous because the spotlight will only expose that you’re truly a fraud.
• Do you hide your struggles, fearing that any struggle will “expose” your lack of faith? At its heart, imposter syndrome is about having our identity wrapped up in our performance. If that’s the case, you’ll never be able to admit struggles or accept critique.
• Do you find yourself being overly critical of others? Sometimes, to protect ourselves from the inevitable exposure, we try to make ourselves feel better by cutting down others. An over-critical spirit is often a coping mechanism for our own feelings of failure.
• Do you doubt God’s love for you specifically, feeling like an “exception”? You know all about grace, love, and forgiveness, but you assume it’s for others. It doesn’t apply to you because you are especially messed up, you think.
• Do you feel as if you have to be “on” when around other Christians? If you feel like you cannot be yourself around other believers, it might be because you do not believe who you really are would be acceptable. The need to “perform” in front of others is a mark of imposter syndrome.

If you’ve got spiritually imposter syndrome pretty bad, you’re probably reading that list, nodding your head, and now you’re feeling pretty bad about yourself. You feel exposed. And probably a little alone. You assume that almost everyone else did much better on that test than you did. But that’s probably not true. What Richard Lovelace found when studying Christians through the ages might be surprising to you:

Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians is solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives. Many have so light an apprehension of God’s holiness and the extent and guilt of their sin that they consciously see little need for justification. However, below the surface of their lives, they are deeply guilt-ridden and insecure. Many others have a theological commitment to [the doctrine of justification]. Still, in their day-to-day existence, they rely on their sanctification for justification… drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance, or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience. Few know how to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude.[2]

You aren’t alone. 

Allberry does a good job of showing that a poorly grounded identity and a skewed view of sin are likely contributing factors. I would like to propose a few more reasons why this spiritual imposter syndrome happens. If Lovelace is correct in his assessment of most Christians today (and even in the past), why is this the case? 

For starters, the Bible itself doesn’t help us out. (Hold your tomatoes; I think I can redeem that statement). Verses like Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect, as I am perfect,” if wrongly read, can create perfectionism. We rightly believe that God’s standard is absolute perfection. But we wrongly forget that He has already met that standard of perfection in Christ. And even in the Old Testament, God made gracious provisions for human frailty and rebellion. 

Scripture itself, when read through the wrong lens, will make us think that we’re never going to be good enough. And other believers, much like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, can further entrench those feelings. They clean the outside of the cup and let the inside rot. Nobody gets to see the inside. This means that you, knowing all the brokenness and rebellion flooding your heart, will never match up to their pristine condition. You’ll fail that comparison trap every time. The more our churches follow the path of legalistic pharisaism, the greater the likelihood of spiritual imposter syndrome. 

The culture itself doesn’t help with this. As Christians, we likely know that there are things on social media that get likes, comments, and subscribers, but we care nothing about them. But that doesn’t mean we do not fall into the same social media comparison trap. What do you feel like when you see someone put together, sharing videos or photos of their quiet time, and you are barely able to get out of bed this morning? 

Lastly, our view of God is often askew. We believe that God’s love and acceptance are based on our personal performance or our behavior. We can even bring things like faith, grace, and the gospel into the equation. We always want to hijack grace with our own personal performance. Even those who are passionate about being centered in the gospel can struggle with making sure they are gospel-centered enough. It’s a big performance treadmill powered by Christian cliches. If you are united to Christ, God’s view of you is already determined by the finished work of Jesus. He gets the last word over your life. Period. 

But I’ve started preaching and slipped into my last point, haven’t I? 

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/AaronAmat

I find some irony in this last point. I do that because I can picture myself reading a similar argument. I’d go through all those diagnostic questions and see places where I’ve gotten off track, and then I’d come to this section trying to learn how to fix it. Perform, perform, perform. I’ll tell you how it’s overcome, but I don’t want you to read this as if it’s something you need to do. Yes, you’re part of it. Yes, what you do matters. Ultimately, our growth happens through the work of the Spirit in our lives. Take a deep breath as you read through these. 

First, please know that you will be able to conquer this. It is implied in 1 John 3:2 that when we see Christ in eternity, we will see things accurately. Which means our identity will no longer be out of whack. That doesn’t mean that we’re going to see what worthless scum we are. It means that we will see ourselves as beloved children of God. Our identity will be fixed in these beautiful things. We won’t deserve it on our own merit, but we also will no longer feel like imposters. 

Knowing this, we can now give the frequent biblical admonition to become in practice who you truly are in Christ. Labor to know your identity in Christ. That means preaching the gospel to yourself on a daily basis. Ground your identity frequently in the finished work of Christ. What matters is not the vivacity of your faith, whether you’re doing great or barely getting by. What matters is the object of your faith. Your righteousness, perfection, etc., is positioned for you in heaven. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Remind yourself of this daily. 

Make a concentrated effort to stop comparing yourself to others. In fact, work hard to forget yourself. That’s not to debase who we are or to dehumanize ourselves. But rather to realize how much things are not about us. This is really good news. We aren’t as big of a deal as we think we are. When we understand this, we stop putting so much weight on things. Make a big deal about Jesus, everything else can hold far more loosely. 

Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Fares Hamouche

One of my favorite songs is embracing Accusations, by Shane and Shane. When we hear the accusation voiced by the Accuser, we should agree with him, they say. The song proclaims that the devil is preaching the gospel—that we are cursed and gone astray. It’s true. We are. We feel like imposters because we have gone astray. But, as that song beautifully says, the devil has forgotten the refrain—Jesus saves. 

Who you are isn’t defined by your sin. It’s not defined by that waging war going on inside of you. Who you are is defined by Jesus. And that makes you not an imposter…because you are really in Christ. His record is really yours. His death…yours. His life…yours. His resurrection…yours. And that is as real as anything. 

Photo Credit: ©Pexels/Bruno Felix