This message starts by confronting the truth that we would rather not face REALITY. That’s why we are prone to customize our own version of REALITY and feed that back to ourselves through our daily SELF TALK. Our walk with Jesus can be derailed if we don’t interrupt this cycle of deception by REFRAMING our narrative.
I have been FRAMING thoughts for my entire adult life as a CEO, as a pastor, and as a ministry leader. I frame thoughts and ideas every day in a never-ending search for meaning, direction, needs, and patterns.
FRAMING is how I see things in my life, evaluate what they mean to me, and determine how God would use them in my walk with Christ.
Here’s how I define FRAMING:
The process of uniting disparate or competing information, values, signals, and messages into coherence that forces me to think like Jesus and then directs my behavior to emulate him.
Here’s the simple summary of that definition:
Everything about FRAMING starts with accepting the harsh dose of REALITY that life delivers to us every day.
Early in my faith walk, I was NOT operating with 100% reality. I was coloring everything based on what I wanted it to be or what I thought it should be. I viewed roadblocks in the way of what I wanted—success and materialism—as just that…roadblocks to move around and storm through.
Because we are human, and not God, our framing is often wrong.
What I missed was the REALITY that God wanted me to REFRAME my goals and motivations by putting him in the hub position of my life and letting the spokes be just that…spokes that worked off the hub’s power and direction.
Snap judgments that we do not run past God can turn into an attitude that escalates to a behavior that is inconsistent with how Christ would have us behave. That leads us to FRAME the situation incorrectly and edit our narrative to fit our version of REALITY. With that as our self-constructed base, we allow it to escalate and extend into more and more dangerous territory.
That’s why believers must challenge their own version of REALITY against GOD’S WORD.
Paul cautioned the Romans about false framing:
“Do not be conformed to this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2
That’s Biblical Framing. I love it.
I ask God to help me focus on the focus the frames I develop in my life on HIM and not let REALITY get lost in my own selfish narratives.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
How are you FRAMING things in your SELF-TALK right now? Is God in the hub position of that framing?
“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
