You Are Valuable to God
Swapping out the lies on repeat in your head.
You hear voices. So do I.
Sometimes they remind you about the mistakes of the past. Over and over and over again.
Sometimes we’ve internalized other people’s voices: a parent, a coach, a teacher, or some other important figure that said something less-than-flattering to you or about you.
Often the voices in our heads summarize our value with blanket condemnation:
You're a failure.
You’re an embarrassment.
Nobody would like you if they knew the real you.
You’re so stupid.
In the middle of one of the most influential sermons of all time, Jesus is talking about how God provides for the birds and he makes a very-important aside:
“Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26)
Receive this good news: you are valuable to God.
Some of you need to read that again. And again.
If there are other voices in your head that you’ve had on repeat for days, weeks, months, years, maybe even decades that are telling you anything different, that’s not the voice of the Good Shepherd.
So how about we start the great life project of getting rid of those voices?
Take ten minutes today and do the following exercise:
Write out exactly what the voices of shame, guilt, or condemnation say to you. As you get started, you might realize there’s more noise in you than you were conscious of. Capture as many phrases as come to mind.
Take your best guess: how many times do you think you’ve repeated some of these words of condemnation internally?
Let’s trade those lies for the truth of God.
Pray something like this: “Lord, I have heard the lie that has said _________. I exchange that lie for the truth: I am valuable to God.”
Pray that through each of the lies from your list above.
Given that you may have repeated the lie thousands of times, it will likely take a good bit of coming back to this prayer to replace that lie with the truth.
My suggestion: every time you hear yourself falling back into condemning self-talk, use it as a cue to come back to this prayer…over and over and over again!
This is just one thread of reflection questions from this month’s always free Greenhouse Retreat, From Worry to Seek First. Click here for the rest!
Greenhouse Retreats, helping you to create conditions ideal for fruitfulness.
Happy flourishing y’all,
Alex