My friend Jamie made a life changing comment in my Friday morning missionary Bible study the other day. It isn't the first time I have heard it, but it put a few other things in perspective for me and I want to share. I sit here praying this morning for my group and hope they heard it and pray to God they apply it to their lives.
We were discussing judgmentalism from our book Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges. (Side note: this book has grown me in so many ways! Do pick it up and read it. There are several points that he does make in the book that I completely disagree with, so read it discerning his words.)
She said that just as we need to watch what we say about others, we need to do the same about ourselves: judging ourselves.
The mind. Your thoughts. How do you look at yourself? Is it the way Christ looks at you? Is it loveable? Are you acceptable? Does it have confidence and boldness in who you are IN Christ? Do you think about yourself while being controlled by the Spirit?
Let me be a little open about what I do, I like to picture things out in my head. When I use to think negatively about myself, an image of Jesus would pop into my mind of Him sitting in a chair watching me. He would say in my head, "That is not true. I do not think that about you." May sound crazy, but if I am to live to please Him, I need to stay focused on what HE thinks about me and my life. I think the longer you refuse thoughts in, the easier it is to not even let it stay for a second next time. Until it actually doesn't even exist anymore. Gone.
You can have control of your thoughts and it is the biggest CHANGE YOU CAN MAKE IN YOUR LIFE. Your own thoughts. Do you know everything stems from there? Your own thoughts about who you are, what you look like, are you good enough, can you do this or that, do you add up to what you should be, make enough money, have enough things? THIS actually dictates how you react, what you do, how you live, how you have relationships with others.
You know what you will STOP doing when you think, "God, what do you think about my body, about how I work, about how I raise my kids, about how I hold grudges, about how I won't forgive, about how I appear to the world single, about how I wait on Your steps, about how I pour into others..." (All those are my own thoughts that were ONCE comparative to others, wondering what others thought about them, but now solely based on Christ's word on it).
You will stop comparing yourself to others.
You can't compare when you focus on what He thinks the most.
You will realize that nothing can influence what you know. You aren't tossed about side to side about what others say. You will live to please God (Gal 1:10).
"Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes." (Ephesians 4:23)
Galatians 5:22-23But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control.
These fruits apply to our lives, too, not just how we interact with others. When we are in Spirit, these are produced. Do you love yourself? I didn't for many years until God showed me what that looked like and how it was WRONG. I hadn't surrendered that area to Him. When I finally did, it was monumental. I remember when He convicted me of this about a year or two ago, being "critical of yourself and judging yourself." In this case, it was over my body. But not just our body...When we learn to have self-control over ALL our negative thoughts through the Holy Spirit, we are changed in EVERY area of our life. When you have those negative thoughts, it is imperative to realize your thoughts are not of the Spirit. If you have the same negative thoughts about anything, week after week, and year after year, and that is "the way I am" ---->You are not allowing the Spirit to renew you or your attitude. I thought hating your body was "normal." Of course my non-Christian friends hated theirs and when I became Christian, my Christian friends hated theirs, too. God told me that I can no longer say my body is disgusting or I do not like it.
WHAT!?
I had to let Him renew me. Those were not Godly thoughts. But if I wanted to change, I had to listen to Him. Since that day, I have not had a single thought that my body was disgusting. The insane part is I actually think it is beautiful, even if it doesn't add up to societal standards. Crazy. I love it and I teach my girls the same thing. It is my job to take care of it and be healthy. I work out because I need to be strong and healthy to fulfill my purpose for Him. That changed my life, too. A few years ago He told me working out is not an option anymore. I do not believe in retirement and I need to keep this body healthy. I read this morning the risk for dementia can be reduced by 50% with regular exercise. This body is not mine. It is my job to teach my girls the same thing. We live and die to glorify God (Romans 14:7), has nothing to do with ourselves when we claim Him.
My friend said the other day, "We all hate our bodies and want to change it. We look in the mirror and think it's disgusting." I sat at home that night and cried to Jesus and texted Dana. I was not bold enough to say, actually, no, I disagree. Through Christ alone, I actually do not do that anymore. I don't think it is perfect, but it is mine and He created it. I didn't want to appear "having it all together" and being judged like so, so I forfeited giving Him glory for His work. I corrected it later after He poked my side over and over again as I cried on my knees and then in bed. I cannot worry what other think of me and how He has transformed my life in INSANE ways. Those that want to grow in Christ will see the light and those that do not, won't. Nothing to do with me, I just have to do my life in Him.
Claim victory. Stop believing YOU can do anything-- lose weight, stop drinking, quit yelling, stop being offended, stop being jealous, be good enough, stop having sex outside of marriage, stop comparing, stop being competive, envy, self-pity, anxious, ANYTHING...
BELIEVE Jesus CAN.
Decide this week that when you have negative thoughts about yourself, send them out immediately.
Join me in this "crazy, unheard of" life of freedom, but you must deny yourself first.
What ways do you negatively judge yourself?
We were discussing judgmentalism from our book Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges. (Side note: this book has grown me in so many ways! Do pick it up and read it. There are several points that he does make in the book that I completely disagree with, so read it discerning his words.)
She said that just as we need to watch what we say about others, we need to do the same about ourselves: judging ourselves.
The mind. Your thoughts. How do you look at yourself? Is it the way Christ looks at you? Is it loveable? Are you acceptable? Does it have confidence and boldness in who you are IN Christ? Do you think about yourself while being controlled by the Spirit?
Let me be a little open about what I do, I like to picture things out in my head. When I use to think negatively about myself, an image of Jesus would pop into my mind of Him sitting in a chair watching me. He would say in my head, "That is not true. I do not think that about you." May sound crazy, but if I am to live to please Him, I need to stay focused on what HE thinks about me and my life. I think the longer you refuse thoughts in, the easier it is to not even let it stay for a second next time. Until it actually doesn't even exist anymore. Gone.
You can have control of your thoughts and it is the biggest CHANGE YOU CAN MAKE IN YOUR LIFE. Your own thoughts. Do you know everything stems from there? Your own thoughts about who you are, what you look like, are you good enough, can you do this or that, do you add up to what you should be, make enough money, have enough things? THIS actually dictates how you react, what you do, how you live, how you have relationships with others.
You know what you will STOP doing when you think, "God, what do you think about my body, about how I work, about how I raise my kids, about how I hold grudges, about how I won't forgive, about how I appear to the world single, about how I wait on Your steps, about how I pour into others..." (All those are my own thoughts that were ONCE comparative to others, wondering what others thought about them, but now solely based on Christ's word on it).
You will stop comparing yourself to others.
You can't compare when you focus on what He thinks the most.
You will realize that nothing can influence what you know. You aren't tossed about side to side about what others say. You will live to please God (Gal 1:10).
"Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes." (Ephesians 4:23)
Galatians 5:22-23But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control.
These fruits apply to our lives, too, not just how we interact with others. When we are in Spirit, these are produced. Do you love yourself? I didn't for many years until God showed me what that looked like and how it was WRONG. I hadn't surrendered that area to Him. When I finally did, it was monumental. I remember when He convicted me of this about a year or two ago, being "critical of yourself and judging yourself." In this case, it was over my body. But not just our body...When we learn to have self-control over ALL our negative thoughts through the Holy Spirit, we are changed in EVERY area of our life. When you have those negative thoughts, it is imperative to realize your thoughts are not of the Spirit. If you have the same negative thoughts about anything, week after week, and year after year, and that is "the way I am" ---->You are not allowing the Spirit to renew you or your attitude. I thought hating your body was "normal." Of course my non-Christian friends hated theirs and when I became Christian, my Christian friends hated theirs, too. God told me that I can no longer say my body is disgusting or I do not like it.
WHAT!?
I had to let Him renew me. Those were not Godly thoughts. But if I wanted to change, I had to listen to Him. Since that day, I have not had a single thought that my body was disgusting. The insane part is I actually think it is beautiful, even if it doesn't add up to societal standards. Crazy. I love it and I teach my girls the same thing. It is my job to take care of it and be healthy. I work out because I need to be strong and healthy to fulfill my purpose for Him. That changed my life, too. A few years ago He told me working out is not an option anymore. I do not believe in retirement and I need to keep this body healthy. I read this morning the risk for dementia can be reduced by 50% with regular exercise. This body is not mine. It is my job to teach my girls the same thing. We live and die to glorify God (Romans 14:7), has nothing to do with ourselves when we claim Him.
My friend said the other day, "We all hate our bodies and want to change it. We look in the mirror and think it's disgusting." I sat at home that night and cried to Jesus and texted Dana. I was not bold enough to say, actually, no, I disagree. Through Christ alone, I actually do not do that anymore. I don't think it is perfect, but it is mine and He created it. I didn't want to appear "having it all together" and being judged like so, so I forfeited giving Him glory for His work. I corrected it later after He poked my side over and over again as I cried on my knees and then in bed. I cannot worry what other think of me and how He has transformed my life in INSANE ways. Those that want to grow in Christ will see the light and those that do not, won't. Nothing to do with me, I just have to do my life in Him.
Claim victory. Stop believing YOU can do anything-- lose weight, stop drinking, quit yelling, stop being offended, stop being jealous, be good enough, stop having sex outside of marriage, stop comparing, stop being competive, envy, self-pity, anxious, ANYTHING...
BELIEVE Jesus CAN.
Decide this week that when you have negative thoughts about yourself, send them out immediately.
Join me in this "crazy, unheard of" life of freedom, but you must deny yourself first.
What ways do you negatively judge yourself?
What a great message you've shared..thank you. It's funny, I've never thought of it that way before, but really it makes so much sense. It makes me think of Mark 12:31, "..Love your neighbor as yourself"..if you're judging yourself negatively, it's probably going to be harder to not have some judgment towards others too..
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