Christ is grace and truth, and He is our standard. That means your soul talk is to be permeated with grace and truth. If it's not gracious, stop talking to yourself that way. Throw those thoughts out of your thought closet. If it's not truth, stop meditating on it.
The standard of grace and truth is to be posted on the door of our thought closets: "Only grace and truth allowed in!" That means if you have the tendency toward name-calling, you might need a sign on the door that reads: "Do Not Enter!"
"Idiot" is the name I most often called myself when I blew it. I'll be honest. If I am really tired, stressed, or just in the Enemy's firing range, "idiot" is still the word that bangs on the door of my closet. Lots of us have harsh names we call ourselves. Do you? Loser. Stupid. Fat. Oh, my friend, it hurts to type those words. "Idiot" is not gracious; it is harsh. "Idiot: is also destructive, and it's not true! It is not based on the authority of Scripture. I can't afford to hang that kind of untruth in my closet, and neither can you. It's too easy to retrieve and too hard to relinquish.
What do you call yourself and how do you feel when you clothe yourself with ill-fitting words that are neither true nor gracious? Remember John 8:32 says the truth will free us.
I have called myself many names...stupid, fat, idiot, hypocrite. These words tear down. They make me feel like these words that I am telling myself I am. BUT, if I have been created in His image....when I call myself these things, I am calling Him the same thing! He has called me "precious", "friend" and "beloved". I need to clothe myself with His words for me!
ReplyDeleteI call myself many things....on a regular basis. Stupid, idiot, dumb, fat, ugly, scary, alone. I feel very down when I call myself these things. The more I hear myself say them the more I believe them. It is not just me....but when people you live with call you some of these names it is really hard not to call them to yourself. One time a pastor friend of mine called me "Saint Judy" and I really, really didn't feel like a Saint. So I told him....please don't call me that, I am not a Saint. He proceeded to show me in the Bible where God calls us Saints and that is the first time I realized that I should be calling myself what God calls me. One of my favorite Scripture in the Bible is where God is calling Peter a "Rock" and Peter is far from being one at the time. But God calls those things that are not as though they are. Romans 4:17 (Amplified Bible)
ReplyDelete17As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. [He was appointed our father] in the sight of God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed.(A)