She stepped nervously to the mat. For Sunni Lee, this was her third attempt at scoring a medal in the 2024 Olympics. But right before the gymnast began her floor routine, the cameras caught her softly whispering words of affirmation: “Okay…you got this…last one…this is for me…last one ever…come on…without a doubt…” Sunni Lee would take home bronze that day.
Positive self-talk can go a long way, as Sunni rightly shows. But what if our words can be more than just personal affirmation. What if—just what if—we could repeat to ourselves the words that God speaks about us?
In Ephesians 1:18-19, Paul actively prays that his readers would fill their minds with God’s story. Today, we can fill our minds with the story of God in much the same way as Sunni Lee: by preaching it regularly to ourselves, reminding ourselves of our true and lasting identity in Christ.
THE POWER OF SELF-TALK
Everybody talks to themselves. Maybe it’s not out loud, but inside your head you have what’s called an “inner monologue.” Researchers estimate that the monologue inside your head runs at around 4,000 words per minute—about 10 times faster than auditory speech.
Elsewhere, Paul instructs Christians to “take every thought captive” in obedience to Christ. Good luck with that. At 4,000 words per minute, you might as well try to take a sip from a fire hose.
That can be bad news when the speech in our head isn’t very affirming. Some people live with thoughts like: “I’ll never be good enough,” “Things just won’t work out,” or “I’m so worthless.” We all have periods of self-doubt, of course. But how do we take back control and speak words of truth to ourselves?
PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO OURSELVES
In the third chapter of his book The Disciplines of Grace, Jerry Bridges takes readers through a summary of the gospel, after which he offers this command: Preach the gospel to yourself. Here’s how:
“To preach the gospel to yourself, then, means that you continually face up to your own sinfulness and then flee to Jesus through faith in His shed blood and righteous life. It means that you appropriate, again by faith, the fact that Jesus fully satisfied the law of God, that He is your propitiation, and that God’s holy wrath is no longer directed toward you…It means that you believe on the testimony of God that “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). It means you believe that “Christ redeemed [you] from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for [you], for it is written ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13). It means you believe He forgave you all your sins (Colossians 2:13) and now “[presents you] holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (Colossians 1:22).”
Preaching the gospel to yourself means you anchor every fiber of your being in the finished work of Christ. It means you reexamine every thought you have about yourself in light of God’s gracious story of redemption and renewal.
REDEFINING YOURSELF
Our inner monologue is constantly seeking to either seize credit or assign blame. But preaching the gospel to ourselves means preaching a different sort of personal narrative. Here are three truths that we can preach to ourselves daily:
- I have a new confidence: Paul says that God chose us in Christ before the world was ever created. That means that God saw your past before it even happened—and died for you anyway. God eternally approves of me in Christ, so my confidence comes from him, rather than seeking the approval of others.
- I have a new identity: If I am “in Christ,” then my greatest sense of worth doesn’t come through my own achievements, but through Christ. This new identity therefore grants me a greater sense of humility, since my approval in God doesn’t come from my own merit, but from grace.
- I have a new destiny: My future is secure in Christ. No matter what other successes or failures come my way, I have hope in a God who makes all things new, and even death itself is no barrier to his achievements.
Are you secure in who you are in Christ? If not, daily reminders of these truths can help you move beyond your own self-definitions and understand who God has created you to be.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
- Do you have an “inner monologue?” What kinds of things do you think about yourself?
- How does God’s story of grace and salvation differ from the way you define yourself?
- Which of the three truths outlined above do you struggle with the most? What might you do to remind yourself of your place in God’s story?
