Ephesians 2:10 ~ For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.
Do you ever sometimes think, "I just want to hear someone say, You are special; You are important; You matter" ?
When things aren't going so well, I certainly need encouragement. I sometimes think that if someone else tells me that I'm special, it matters more. And then I had this incredible "aha" moment after reading a book, that what's most important are the words I say to myself. I can give myself encouragement and I don't have to rely on it from anyone else. As a matter of fact, I shouldn't rely on someone else to tell me how special I am because God already did that and does it all of the time.
This book I'm reading is called The 4 Agreements. And lo and behold, the first agreement is to be impeccable with your words. Impeccable means to not sin against ourselves. Kind of hard to do since we are sinners. But the author begins with the importance of words & that humans are the only species that can use words. In the beginning was the word. and the word was with God and the word was God... John 1:1. Words were with God at the beginning of time and He gave us that powerful gift!
Something else that captured my attention: humans are the only species who make mistakes and continually revisit those mistakes and judge ourselves harshly for them. No other species does that. All other species move on after they make the mistake. They make a mistake and it's done. Besides judging ourselves, we're also pretty good at judging others.
Part of the reason that we struggle with judgment and not letting go of mistakes is that we grow up believing what others tell us about ourselves. As we grow up, we gain our identity from what others say about us even though their beliefs are not necessarily true. Sometimes we act in a way to prove their beliefs even though that might not even be who we are. So maybe when you were growing up, someone told you that you were smart or pretty or maybe just the opposite. And you began to believe what they told you because that is how we find our place in the world. We take on those beliefs and inadvertently say unkind things to ourselves. Our words are like magic. They can also be poison.
To be impeccable with our words means to not to gossip or use unkind words because it only brings pain and sin on ourselves. Most importantly, we should be impeccable with words we say to ourselves. We were created by God in his image and He knows how incredibly special each one of us are.
As a matter of fact one of my devotionals was titled "Speak Life". How important our words are. They can speak life or just the opposite. Dale Carnegie's first principle is Don't Criticize, Condemn or Complain. When we connect that to the agreement to be impeccable with our words how our lives could change tremendously.
May you be blessed this week as you become impeccable with your words, starting with yourself, and grow in God's love for you. May we not wait for other's to compliment us but find our own "specialness" through God's words. Isn't it amazing that God has a special love for each and every one of us? And we are His masterpiece!
Do you ever sometimes think, "I just want to hear someone say, You are special; You are important; You matter" ?
When things aren't going so well, I certainly need encouragement. I sometimes think that if someone else tells me that I'm special, it matters more. And then I had this incredible "aha" moment after reading a book, that what's most important are the words I say to myself. I can give myself encouragement and I don't have to rely on it from anyone else. As a matter of fact, I shouldn't rely on someone else to tell me how special I am because God already did that and does it all of the time.
This book I'm reading is called The 4 Agreements. And lo and behold, the first agreement is to be impeccable with your words. Impeccable means to not sin against ourselves. Kind of hard to do since we are sinners. But the author begins with the importance of words & that humans are the only species that can use words. In the beginning was the word. and the word was with God and the word was God... John 1:1. Words were with God at the beginning of time and He gave us that powerful gift!
Something else that captured my attention: humans are the only species who make mistakes and continually revisit those mistakes and judge ourselves harshly for them. No other species does that. All other species move on after they make the mistake. They make a mistake and it's done. Besides judging ourselves, we're also pretty good at judging others.
Part of the reason that we struggle with judgment and not letting go of mistakes is that we grow up believing what others tell us about ourselves. As we grow up, we gain our identity from what others say about us even though their beliefs are not necessarily true. Sometimes we act in a way to prove their beliefs even though that might not even be who we are. So maybe when you were growing up, someone told you that you were smart or pretty or maybe just the opposite. And you began to believe what they told you because that is how we find our place in the world. We take on those beliefs and inadvertently say unkind things to ourselves. Our words are like magic. They can also be poison.
To be impeccable with our words means to not to gossip or use unkind words because it only brings pain and sin on ourselves. Most importantly, we should be impeccable with words we say to ourselves. We were created by God in his image and He knows how incredibly special each one of us are.
As a matter of fact one of my devotionals was titled "Speak Life". How important our words are. They can speak life or just the opposite. Dale Carnegie's first principle is Don't Criticize, Condemn or Complain. When we connect that to the agreement to be impeccable with our words how our lives could change tremendously.
May you be blessed this week as you become impeccable with your words, starting with yourself, and grow in God's love for you. May we not wait for other's to compliment us but find our own "specialness" through God's words. Isn't it amazing that God has a special love for each and every one of us? And we are His masterpiece!