You Are What You Think

When I went to our youngest son's conference his teacher was telling me how shy he still was, but that he was slowly coming around. She said some of the parents have said “He is cute but so shy” and it had been said in front of him. She told me she asked them not to say that because she didn’t think he should hear it. She then told me a story about a little girl in one of her classes who was very little for her age.

Whenever people would see her, they would say, “Oh, you’re so tiny and so cute.” Eventually, after a while when people would meet this girl, she would say what her name was –followed by “I’m tiny.” This had been said so much around her that she identified herself as “tiny.”

She told me this because she didn’t want our son to do the same thing. Now, this little girl most likely already felt smaller than the other kids, but with everyone saying it – it reinforced it in her mind and she ended up defining herself by her size.

From that story, we learn how important it is to watch what we say to others. It’s also important to be very careful what we say or think about ourselves.

Proverbs 23:7 says “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

When I was in high school people knew I was from what they called back then “A broken home” that my biological father was not in my life. I remember someone once saying, “I was illegitimate” and was constantly reminded of my darker skin (being half Mexican) growing up. Now while that was true, I let it sink into my thoughts, and let it become the focus of who I was, and who I wasn’t. There were other factors along the way that contributed as well. In my mind, I was a loser, because I was fatherless, had too dark of skin which then caused my attitude about myself to be negative.

I eventually took a wrong turn in my life. I chose to basically walk away from God. I chose to do what I wanted. I was tired of being hurt, used, and abused. However, I was only making things worse because what I was doing was a slap in God’s face, and it was on purpose. I never verbally said to God “I Don’t want to lean on you and trust you – please don’t help Me.” but my actions reflected it. I tried to fix myself the way I wanted, and to be honest, sin is fun, or no one would do it.

You see my thoughts were on my pain, my hurt, and myself. I wasn’t willing to give it all to Him to handle and heal. Then the thoughts of guilt came. In my mind, I was no good, not lovable, and not worthy.

Thank God His thoughts are higher than ours – in every way. Isaiah 55:8 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Take a moment now and think on an average “What are my thoughts about?" “Am I mostly thinking negative about life, others, and myself?" “How do I really see myself?" “Do I really see myself, for who I really am in Christ’s eyes, or have I let others and circumstances dictate what I think about myself?"

Paul in 11Corinthians 10:4-5 says “We need to bring every thought into captivity and bring it unto obedience in Christ.” If we are constantly in a state of jealousy, worry, and pride – how do these things line up with the word of God and His will for our lives?

If our children were constantly coming to us saying negative things about others or themselves – we couldn’t take it. We as parents want the best for our children. We want them to feel great about who they are.

If they continued to do such destruction to themselves, most likely they would lead a miserable life. They would never see themselves how we as their parents see them.

God's love for us is the same, but much higher. God says in Genesis He created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them. 1John 3:1 says “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore, the world knoweth us not because it knew Him not.”

Philippians 4:8 says “Finally brethren whatever is true, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report, if there is any excellence and if anything, worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the God of peace shall be with you.”

Life is hard a lot of times. We all can get caught up in thinking negatively, worrying about finances, our children, our marriages, careers, etc…. When we though fully give God our whole lives – which means body- heart – soul, and mind and let Him be the center of it all only then will we have peace.

For every worry, you will ever have, or every negative thought you think about yourself or others there is a word – a positive word and answer from God in the Bible. When we can come to the place of really knowing who we are in God’s eyes we will never again think negatively about ourselves again.

How do we get to that point you may ask?

The answer is found in the word of God – go there and find out what God thinks about you and how much He loves and values you.