No one is more influential in your life than you are, because no one talks to you as much as you talk to yourself.
People laugh at that statement, but I'm really quite serious. You're in an unending, incredibly important conversation with your soul every moment of every day.
You interpret, organize, and analyze what's going on inside and outside of you. You talk to yourself about the past, you talk to yourself about the future, and you talk to yourself about what you're experiencing in the present.
Obviously, this is an internal conversation - if you had this conversation aloud they would probably put you into a ward! But that's why it's so dangerous - you often don't even realize that you're saying things to yourself. But you are. You're saying things to you that will shape your desires, actions, and theology.
What are you saying to you about God and your circumstances? Do your words stimulate faith, hope, and courage? Or does your talk stimulate doubt, discouragement, and fear? Do you remind yourself that God is near, or do you reason within yourself that, given your circumstances, he must be distant?
Here's the question: how wholesome, faith-driven, and Christ-centered is the conversation that you have with yourself every day? Do you remind yourself of your need? Do you point yourself once again to the beauty and practicality of God's grace? Do you tell yourself to run toward him in those moments when you feel like running from him?
No one is more influential in your life than you are, because no one talks to you as much as you talk to yourself. What will you say to you today?
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- Would you be comfortable with someone listening to a recording of your internal conversation?
- What are some things you say to you that stimulate hope, faith and confidence?
- What are some things you say to you that stimulate fear, anxiety, and discouragement?
- How can you become a more biblical counselor to your own soul?
- How can you counsel others to talk more biblically to themselves?
