First, let me just say that while I am totally feeling the title of this blog, my inner grammar nazi is angry for ending it with a preposition.  But somehow, “To Whom are You Speaking?” doesn’t quite capture the attitude…

Now, with that out of the way….

Do you realize who you talk with the most?  It’s YOU.  Don’t lie.  You know that you have so many conversations with yourself all day, every day.  Some are basic and start with, “You know you have to get up now,” followed by, “I don’t think I’ve worn that yet this week,” to, “Is the coffee ready?”  When you throw in the mental checklists of things to get done for the day, people to see, and the preparations you have to make for the day’s events, you actually probably have on average at least 20 conversations with yourself before you even get in the car to leave the house.

Most of those conversations are relatively benign.  They are more factual.  But what about those conversations where you are needing to have some courage, for those times that you need to be outside of your comfort zone, and for those times where you have attempted something that didn’t exactly go how you thought it would – and not in a good way?  What are those conversations like? 

I will tell you what mine were like on a fairly routine basis, I’m afraid to say.  They went something like, “You know you aren’t the best person to handle this,” or “They know how to do this so much better than you.”  What about, “You’re going to mess this up because you don’t have the experience you need, and you’re not going to be smart enough to figure this out.”

And what about personally speaking?  Those went something like, “You are so not attractive at this size – I mean, look!  You can barely find anything to fit you that makes you look half-way decent!”  And then there was this one:  “You should be so much further along in your career by now.  You are so far behind compared to those that graduated with you.”

I was mean to myself.  Can you relate?  If not, THAT IS GREAT!! But you are definitely in the minority, and it’s possible that you are not being totally honest with yourself.  If you are, seriously – that is amazing!  But for the rest of us, we need to take a little bit of inventory on ourselves.

What I noticed as the common thread of all of my negative talk to myself is that it was based solely on what others MAY have thought of me and my comparison to an imaginary standard.  And that is a standard that I do not have to live up to!  (And there it is again – ending a sentence with a preposition… I’m going to have to go to a grammar time out.)

I had a friend remind me once that what we say to ourselves are things that we would NEVER say out loud to someone else.  So true!! So why do we say such hurtful things to ourselves? We all need to remember my friend’s wisdom as we have these conversations that turn negative on who we are.

But more importantly, we need to stop ourselves in those conversations and, as  believers, we need to remember WHOSE we are!!  We are the children of the Most High God.  We are co-heirs with Christ.  We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us as a deposit of our eternal inheritance of Heaven and eternity with the Lord! I, myself, needed to stop and remind myself of these things!

And now knowing WHOSE I am, I can shift my thinking in knowing the truth in WHO I am.  God’s Word tells me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalms 139:14).  I am a new creation – all of the old things have passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17).  I am more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37). And I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for me to do. (Ephesians 2:10).

So who am I talking to????  Let me tell you! I’m talking to a creation by God and loved by God.  And if He sees value in me, I should see it in myself – not in arrogance, but in confidence!  And I sure wouldn’t want to be found speaking poorly of His creation, so I shouldn’t be found speaking poorly of me!  And you shouldn’t be saying negative things about you to you!

After taking in the truths of who the Word says I am and removing the imaginary standard I had in my head, I stopped speaking negatively about me to me.  And that’s what you need to do, too.

So today, as you have both your general conversations, as well as those where you need courage or some other personal conquest, I want you to remember that, as a believer, you have value and are loved so much that God sacrificed His own Son to have a relationship with you.  YOU!  You are worth the price HE set to pay.  

And when satan tries to convince you to speak poorly of yourself to yourself, you remember not only WHOSE you are, but WHO you are. And ask that liar if he knows just who he’s talking to!