What Mini Sermons Are You Preaching to Yourself?

Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – July 18, 2017

By Shana Schutte

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4

Words. They are everywhere. We hear them on television, in the grocery store checkout line, on the radio, and over the Internet. We hear them when we chat with our friends on the phone, and as we converse with our children, parents, boyfriend or girlfriend, and coworkers. We hear lots of words. Every. Single. Day. But by far the largest amount of words we experience are those that pass through our own minds. And these words are like little mini sermons we preach to ourselves.

In our thoughts, we tell ourselves if life is worth living, if we can get through our current struggle, if we are willing to forgive someone or not, how we feel about our lives and selves and a million other things. These little sermons are also agreements. They are agreements we make with God, or they are agreements we make with the father of lies.

“He [the devil] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)

Every life circumstance, trial, disappointment, struggle, and even victory is an invitation to make the right agreement and preach the right sermon to ourselves. The messages that we preach to ourselves either bolster or ruin us. They strengthen or weaken us. They encourage or discourage us. They give us more faith, or they tear down our faith. 

The great thing about the sermons that we preach to ourselves is that we don’t have to feel the truth before we tell ourselves the truth. We can open our mouths and tell ourselves the truth, or we can redirect our thoughts to embrace the truth (2 Corinthians 10:5). Even if we don’t feel like it’s the truth, it’s true. Even if you don’t feel as if you are forgiven, you can tell yourself the truth. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed my transgression from me” (Psalm 103:12). Even if you don’t feel as if God loves you, you can tell yourself the truth, “The LORD loves me with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3).

After I married, there were days when I struggled with feeling accepted in my new family. It was par for the course in becoming a part of a blended family. Honestly, it’s not anything that anyone in my new family had done; it was nothing that anyone had said. I was just struggling in my own mind with the little mini sermons I was preaching to myself. “You’ll never be fully accepted in this family.” “You have nothing to offer.” And, “You don’t belong.” One day while speaking with my husband about this battle that was going on inside me, he said, “It’s normal to wrestle with insecurity but don’t tell yourself lies.” 

What kind of sermons are you preaching to yourself today? Tell yourself the truth. Agree with God. 

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

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