Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Look in the Mirror

“What you persistently think, eventually, but inevitably, crystallizes into the words you speak and then into the things you do.” (The 4:8 Principle, Tommy Newberry)

In other words, what you think about yourself will influence everything you say and everything you do. You begin to believe what you say about yourself. And once you believe what you say about yourself, you will begin to act that way.

If you tell yourself you are worthless and unlovable, you will begin to believe you are worthless and unlovable. And once you believe it, you will begin to act as if you are worthless and unlovable. You will begin to dress with no thought as to how you look. You will develop an “I don’t care what other people think of me” attitude. You may even begin to act wild and reckless, doing foolish and stupid things because your mind tells you no one else cares about you – so why should you care. The way of dressing, the “I don’t care” attitude, even the reckless living are all defense mechanisms to keep from getting hurt. No one wants to be considered a worthless, unlovable person – and no one is. As the old saying goes, “God didn’t create junk.” To put it another way, God didn’t create worthless, unlovable people. He created us in His own image. But because of circumstances in which we were wounded emotionally, we tell ourselves these things until we believe them. Or even worse, some primary person or persons in our lives have told us that we are not lovable, not worthy of their attention, their time, their love.

So how do we change our “stinkin’ thinkin’?” We first have to know who our worth comes from. It doesn’t come from our parents, our heritage or our place in the family. It doesn’t come from our social status, the amount of education we have or our place in the community. And it doesn’t come from who we married or how much money we have in the bank or what we do for a living. Our worth comes only from God. Yes, that’s right – GOD.

God created us in His own image and God is not junk!

So back to the question – how do you change your thinking about yourself? You must begin to believe that you do have worth, but it is worth that comes from God – from belonging to Him and knowing who you are in Him. Look at yourself in the mirror every morning and tell yourself, “I am worthy because God created me and I have worth in Him.” Repeat this to yourself several times throughout the day. This is not the power of positive thinking – this is a fact you are stating in order to plant this truth into your heart! Act like you believe it. Dress like you believe it. The more you say it, the more you will believe it. And the more you believe it, the more you will act like it. Before you know it, you will see yourself as God sees you – worthy and lovable.

(c) 2008 Edwina E. Cowgill

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