Those Voices Are Lying
You may be walking around with a tape loop playing in the background of your brain. It’s a loop of comments made by people from your past. “You aren’t smart enough.” “You aren’t good enough.” “You will never make it.” “You don’t have the talent to do that.” Some of those loops were created by you. When those loops are telling you that you are helpless, hopeless and worthless, those are all lies. Those voices are lying.
Coaches, teachers, parents, spouses,siblings, and friends may have created some of those loops. The comments that hurt the most or have the most impact are from those closest to you. People who you care about the most. People who you love the most cut the deepest when their comments are unkind or demeaning. They leave the deepest scars. I’ve ridden that roller coaster also, so I am well aware of this phenomenon. Those voices are lying.
How do we deal with these loops? We need to come to the realization that humans are human. We all say and do stupid things all the time.
The Only Voice That Matters
Instead of focusing on what other people say about us or the opinion of others, we can learn to focus on the opinion of Jesus. He never said anything or did anything stupid. His opinion has the most value. He never has and never will make a mistake. Jesus says that you have hope, you have value and you have power. Look at this excerpt from the near death experience of Howard Storm that he describes in his book, “My Descent Into Death”,
I felt like garbage, filthy rags in the presence of the Holy One. My friend carrying me, Jesus, my best friend, was aware of my fear and reluctance and shame. I thought to myself, “I’m scum that belongs back down in the sewer. They’ve made a terrible mistake. I don’t belong here.” For the first time, he spoke. He spoke directly to my mind in his young male voice. “We don’t make mistakes, and you do belong here.”
When we come to recognize the value of the opinion of Jesus and we begin to see ourselves the way that he does, we come to understand that we are valuable, acceptable, lovable and forgivable. We also have power, hope and a future. We need to put the opinions of Jesus in the foreground of our minds. We need to remember that the loops of negativity that are playing over and over in your head are straight up lies. The loops are lying to you. Those voices are lying.
Listen instead to Jesus,
“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
John 10:10 NLT
A rich and satisfying life. Listen to Jesus.