Talking to Ourselves

(I began this on Tuesday night but hit writer's block about halfway through. This morning during my quiet time the reading from day 32 out of Beth Moore's Jesus completely coincided with what I wasn't able to write yesterday. Some of the thoughts expressed and the title of this post come from what I read.)

Recently my nephew came home from preschool with only two stamps. If you are good all day then you actually get three. His mom asked him why he only got two stamps and he confessed that he had gotten in trouble for talking. As any good mom and former school teacher would, she continued to ask questions. "Who were you talking to?" He replies, "No one...I was talking to myself." They then talked about how you don't have to say everything that you think.

Most of us have learned this lesson, though I know a few people who still haven't quite mastered this. I am far from perfect, but I do try to think before I speak and not always say everything that pops into my head. This really paid off the other day.

On Saturday I headed to Super Target on the other side of the bridge. It was early evening and I was hoping that my delay in going shopping was going to cause me to miss the majority of the Saturday crowds. I was very excited to find out that my plan worked. I maneuvered the aisles, gathered everything on my list, and headed to the checkout. Like most people I began looking for the shortest line which is rarely on the end so I headed to the middle. I was elated when I found a line with only one person in it and she didn't have that many items. I waited patiently for my turn. The seconds ticked by and it didn't seem like this process was going fast enough. I continued to wait, but not as patiently. Time continues to tick by and I continue waiting. Now I am getting impatient. The checkout lady is moving extremely slow and I am now debating what to do. That's when I notice it...she is only using her right arm. Why? Because her left arm was actually a non functioning prosthetic. Of course I felt absolutely horrible after I made this discovery, but also thankful that she had absolutely no clue what was going on in my head.

Part of growing in our Christian walk is coming to the point were we can recognize and confess our judgmental, critical, and impure thoughts. But it doesn't just stop there...God can change our thoughts, attitudes, and motives. He not only can He, but He wants to.

Even when I contain my thoughts and don't allow them to cross my lips, God knows exactly what I was thinking. In Luke 7:36-50 Jesus is anointed by a woman at a Pharisee's home. In verse 39 it says, "When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, 'This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching Him-she's a sinner." In the next several verses, Jesus confronts the Pharisee's thought even though he never verbalized it.

One of the things that God has been showing me lately is not only the need to take thoughts captives to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:15), but that I need to change my way of thinking. If I am going to be more like Christ then I have to begin to think like Him, act like Him, say things He would say, etc. In John 14:31 Jesus says He only does exactly what the Father commands Him. Isn't that we all should be doing? If I am really growing in my relationship with Him, it should become increasingly difficult to tell us apart.