(This week’s devotions are based on Sunday’s message: Win the Day…Flip the Script – LISTEN HERE)
The narrative that goes on in your mind is a powerful story. This story is made up of past experiences, personal interactions, and powerful memories.
According to a study done by Emory University, the best predictor of a child’s emotional well-being is not getting them into a great school. It’s not giving them lots of hugs and kisses. It’s not taking them on a pilgrimage to Disney World. It’s not watching Pixar films. According to these researchers at the Emory University, the number one indicator of emotional well-being, drum roll, is a child knowing their family history.
Think about this for a moment. You can probably still hear the words your parents spoke to you…positive or negative which determine your confidence, sense of value, or significance. Perhaps a teacher in school discounted your abilities and you still let that recording play over and over again. On the other hand it could have been a positive comment that replays constantly. Our story is a powerful component of our day to day thinking and mindset. If we have a narrative that is full of confidence, positivity, value and worth…it’s probably easier to win the day. If we have a narrative that is filled with negativity, self-deprecation, low confidence and sense of worth, we may struggle even to get out of bed in the morning.
What I’m about to share next is in no way minimizing the struggle that some feel. (Professional counseling can be an avenue to re-write narratives in our minds.)
The disciples had a story. In fact “nicknames” were perhaps indicators of their story. “Doubting” Thomas…The “Sons of Thunder”…the tax-collector…fishermen…zealot…etc. While these aspects were part of their story, what changed was the intersection of Jesus into their story.
On the evening of the resurrection, the disciples were locked in a room because they were afraid of the Jews. They didn’t want to be next in line to take a spot on the cross. Their immediate story was one of fear, uncertainty and questions.
John 20:9 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Jesus didn’t want their stories to be defined by their past or by their most current emotions. He appears to them to affirm their value, settle their hearts, and commission them for his purposes. Jesus’ personal interaction with the disciples indicated they were significant, valued, and important to Jesus.
It didn’t matter what the Jewish leaders thought. It didn’t matter what the people in Jerusalem thought. It didn’t matter that they were fisherman or tax-collectors. Jesus flips the script of their story by intersecting them with his story.
Jesus’ opinion is the only one that matters. No matter what our past story is, we can allow our minds to form a new story based on our interaction with Jesus…a story that each day plays the very true narrative that you are loved, forgiven, a child of God with a heavenly purpose for your day.
So with a new story beginning to play in your mind…Win the day!
Apply: What narrative from your past affects your days on a regular basis? What begins to change when you allow Jesus’ narrative to begin to replace the old story?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for intersecting into our story to instill in us that we are forgiven, gifted, children of yours. Let us win the day because you won our eternity! AMEN.