beliefs Archives - Lucy Ann Moll

What’s Your Real Worldview?

by Lucy | Jun 9, 2016 | biblical counseling, thoughts | 1 comment

Whether you know it or not, you have a worldview, and it colors how you see the world and how you solve your problems.

In this short article, you’ll discover:

what a worldview is and why it matters to your spiritual growth.
how to reclaim a Christian worldview if yours goes off track.
the super important link between your heart and your worldview.

PLUS: the best encouragement to stay sane in a crazy world.

What Is a Worldview?

A worldview is the framework from which you view reality and make sense of life. It consists of the values—or, your fundamental belief system—that determines your attitudes and desires, and ultimately your actions. It is the sum total of your beliefs about the world.

EXAMPLES:

A toddler believes she’s the center of the universe.
A humanist believes the material world is all that exists.
A postmodernist believes what true for him is truth.

What’s a Christian Worldview?

A Christian worldview is based on belief that the Word of God—that is, the Bible—is true. Click & Tweet! When you believe the Bible is true, then you embrace the Living Word, who is Jesus. The Bible becomes the foundation of everything you think, say, feel, and do.

To determine if you have a Christian worldview, why not answer the following questions in a survey formulated by pollster George Barna?

Do absolute moral truths exist?

Is absolute truth defined by the Bible?

Did Jesus Christ live a sinless life?

Is God the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe, and does He still rule it today?

Is salvation a gift from God that cannot be earned?

Is Satan real?

Does a Christian have a responsibility to share her his or her faith in Christ with others?

Is the Bible accurate in all of its teachings?

Did you answer “yes” to these questions? Then you have a Christian worldview, specifically a biblical worldview. (Some liberal Christians would say they have a Christian world view but would say “no” to a number of Barna’s questions including the accuracy of the Bible.)

Your Worldview Matters

When you believe the Bible is true, you want your life to show it. You’ll read the Bible and pray – not out of obligation – because you have the life of Christ and He lives his life through you.

Your deepening faith that permeates your entire life: marriage or singleness, relationships at work and with neighbors and family, your choices, your emotions, and your thinking.

Yet the secular worldview encroaches on every believer like a rising flood, desiring to suck you into its undercurrents. You see it on billboards, TV, and internet ads; you hear it in popular music and many a teen’s slang.

The world’s enticement is one reason a Christian believer might fall into muck the Bible calls sin. Sin is unholy wrongdoing that offends God.

He might be look with lust at a woman. She might crave a shiny Corvette. He might trip into an addiction. She might lie. He might slander a coworker. She might bow to the idol of materialism to find her worth.

Colossians 2:8 speaks to empty, worldly philosophies:

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits^[a] of the world, and not according to Christ.

Reclaim Your Worldview

Christian believers who ascribe to a biblical worldview can become confused and make strange choices—strange for a self-identifying Christian.

EXAMPLES:

Shanna visits a Reiki practitioner who uses a technique called palm healing by which “universal energy” is said to encourage healing.
Liz discovers the underbelly of Internet porn and frequents online chat rooms.
A mother of four young children increasingly uses profanity while yelling at them.

In every case, the Christian has fallen into a secular worldview to solve problems. Shanna looks to New Age for help with emotional pain. Liz enters a sex fantasy world to escape a loveless marriage. In anger the mother uses the coarse language of the times. Haven’t you acted unChristian too at times? Haven’t we all?

To reclaim your biblical worldview, agree with God where your went off the rails. Did you gossip? Yell? Get jealous?

Then repent. Repent is a church-y word that means to “do a 180” and go the opposite direction you were headed. The gossiper starts speaking kindly about others. The yeller embraces a new approach of being “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry” (James 1:19). The jealous one remembers to be thankful.

Worldview and Your Heart

In the Bible, your heart refers to your mind, your emotions, and your will. At the heart of your heart is your worldview, or the sum of what you believe. It is “your control center.”

A healthy heart has godly thoughts, godly emotions, and godly actions—all because you have a worldview set on the truth of God’s Word.

May I encourage one important activity to keep your worldview and heart healthy? Read your Bible every day. The Word of God renews your mind. Click & Tweet!

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2, ESV)

It changes the way you think. It encourages and instructs you. It teaches you right from wrong.

It keeps you sane in a world gone crazy.

Sharing Hope with Your Heart,

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How to Rewrite Old Tapes

by Lucy | Feb 4, 2016 | emotions, emotions, thoughts | 2 comments

Isn’t it encouraging that you and God can rewrite old tapes that are negative and discouraging?

These tapes, these words you repeat to yourself, may have a tidbit of truth.

An example:

You may have made a mistake–we all do–but your mistake doesn’t define you. Click & Tweet! To God, you are not a failure.

The old tapes you play may say you you’re a mess-up or lack value or beauty. The most important and wonderful truth: In Christ, you are God’s child and he loves you beyond your imagination.

He loves you, so you can share love with others. . .family, friends, people at church, neighbors, co-workers, the cashier at Walmart, anyone, everyone.

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19, ESV

Tapes Start in Childhood

The old destructive tapes often began in childhood. An exception may be that you married an abusive man who puts you down day after day after day. He may tell you that you’re stupid and a loser. Even with a great childhood, hearing this vitriol in your marriage can undo you and cause you to question your worth.

In childhood, did your dad say or insinuated that you’d amount to nothing or that you were a bother? Did he make unwelcome comments about your looks or women’s beauty (or lack there of)? Did your mom seem preoccupied or highly critical? Did she have her nose in a book or her eyes fixed on TV, and shooed you away when you wanted her attention? Did she give you the silent treatment or yell at you when you failed in her eyes?

If this happened to you, my heart hurts for you. This isn’t the childhood God wants parents to to their children. You can get a picture of God’s plan for parenting here and here and here.

The messages you believed in childhood morphed into tapes that we adults repeat to ourselves regularly, if not daily,

and especially when stressed.

Overcoming the Discouragement of Old Tapes

God loves you so much he wants you to rewrite the tapes from childhood and end the sinful habits you learned from them. You may have tried to overcome your sinful habits–whether worry, bitterness, or laziness–through prayer, Bible study, talking with trustworthy friends, and even counseling. Still, they may plague you.

These sinful habits have lodged in your heart. From the heart flows our thoughts (Proverbs 4:23).

What you believe about yourself and God–whether true or false–becomes part of your thinking, but you can change! Click & Tweet!

When negative thoughts pop us, they may seem to come out of nowhere. It’s as if they have a life of their own. When plagued with negative thoughts, isn’t it easy to feel helpless?

You may be tempted to give up on changing them. As a Christ-follower, you know God wants to thinks thoughts pleasing to him. Doesn’t Philippians 4:8 say. . .?

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

There is hope!

Rewriting Old Tapes Is a Process

You can rewrite the old tapes that began in childhood. This won’t happen overnight; it’s a process. As you replace lies you believe with God’s truth–wonderful changes ensue:

Your thought patterns improve.
Your beliefs line up more and more with the Word of God.
You begin to desire what God desires–that his will be done.

Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4, NIV

Most important, your life glorifies God. Isn’t this the real reason God created us?

As you meditate on scripture, you create new tapes, encouraging and godly and life-giving tapes. These new tapes replace the old ones. and your thoughts, emotions, and actions follow suit. Your heart is revived!

“Heart” is the biblical term for your beliefs and motivations from which your thoughts, emotions, and actions flow. When the Bible speaks of the heart, it is almost exclusively refers to the inner workings of the soul and mind. It is the immaterial part of your being.

At first change may seem slow. As you continue to internalize the God’s truths, the greater and faster these changes will be!

Awful thoughts and sinful habits that plague you will lessen, even disappear. You’ll feel joy–and dare I say, true happiness. Click & Tweet!

Your Next Step

Look up the Bible verses listed below. Memorize them one at a time and meditate on them.

Some of my counselees like to write them on index cards or sticky notes and place them on their car dashboard or bathroom mirror to reread them often. Others like to “draw” the verses, using the words with sketches.

Romans 12:1-2

Ephesians 4:22-24

2 Peter 1:3-4

Soon you’ll have new tapes because your mind cannot have both sinful and righteous thoughts at the same time. Tell me how it goes. I love hearing from my readers!

OFFER: I offer a complimentary 15-minute, phone consultation with any woman who has questions about counseling. To take advantage of this offer, simply contact me and say “I’d like a consultation.” I’ll email you and we’ll set up a time to talk on the phone.

Sharing Hope with Your Heart!