Something we oughta thank God for?
He didn't give us the ability to read one another's minds.
Because, could you imagine? Walking into your local Starbucks and seeing the thought bubble pop up from the dude looking up from his laptop? What on God's green earth is she wearing? it might say.
Or, one from the employee? Here goes the one who always stays 'til close, they may be thinking.
Or, to be pouring your heart out to someone in conversation—only to see the text in their thought bubble read, Bro, they are way too sensitive.
May I repeat:
Thank God we keep our thoughts to ourselves!
Because, can I be honest with you, reader? I already have a hard enough time not caring about what others think. I can only imagine how difficult it'd be to have those thoughts stare right back at me! Not to mention, it's bad enough that we have more access than we should to the few who put their thoughts online. (Which—slight roast to myself. My whole blog is literally...my thoughts...online.) But due to the fact that I do enough thinking on my own, I don't need to be consumed by what you're thinking now too!
But, while we may not have any way of knowing what one another's thoughts consist of, I'm writing this blog post today to remind us all of the access we do have to the most important thoughts in the world.
The thoughts I'm referring to belong to Someone who is perfect. I'm talking about Someone who is royalty, who is—I don't know—the Creator of the universe.
You guessed it!
I'm talking about the Lord.
We have 100%, 24/7 access to the mind of a pure genius.
How?
By reading Scripture.
That's right!
Reading the Bible is like reading God's mind. Which means that if you are ever curious about the thoughts that roll around in His head, you don't have to insert your own text inside of His thought bubble. You don't have to guess what He's thinking about you when you walk into the room. Nope! That information is as easy to access as it was finding today's post. But, what's sad is that I remember a time of my life where this valuable information was collecting dust on my bookshelf—where the Bible was more so an accessory to my collection than it was the light to my path that it is today.
Because, now that I've found the Bible to be everything I've ever needed, I can't stop reading. I want to know more about what He's thinking. I want to know His secrets, His promises, His dreams, His thoughts.
And, if I'm honest?
I want to know what He thinks about me.
Even further, I want to know what He's always thought about me. Scripture says that heaven and earth will pass away before a word from God gets taken back. So, if He's thought something about me in the past, I can be certain He thinks the same about me now.
Which—pause.
Speaking of reading each other's minds, I know what you may be thinking.
"But, Yana," you may be ready to correct, "the Bible is for us, not about us. How can you look to the Scriptures to see what God thinks about you?"
I can answer this simply.
I wouldn't want to look for this kind of information anywhere else.
It's true that the Bible is not a collection of hype-man stories, where Jesus pats us on the back and promises to support even the worst of our decisions. If anything, it's more like a mirror—as James describes it—for us to look inside and see which areas of our lives we need grace the most. But, what we can all agree on is that the Bible is the only way we can read God's mind, and that same Bible records that He thinks about us often.
Psalms 139:17 as my witness.
Therefore, I feel safe going to Scripture to find out for myself what God thinks about me, what His first thought was. Or, for the purpose of today's post, the first impression.
The first time God had anything to say about me—about you, about human beings. The first thought He had after you and I were created.
Our answer is found in Genesis 1:31, shortly after God created human beings—male and female—in verse twenty-seven.
The verse reads, as follows:
Then God looked over all He had made, and He saw that it was very good! ...
Emphasis on the all He had made.
Why?
Because that includes you and I.
Which means that the very first thing God said about us wasn't just good.
Instead, it was very good.
When man was alone? Not good.
When man fell into sin? Not good.
But, you? The person God made you to be? The first thought He had about you in the very beginning? You read it yourself! He said, "Very good."
And, for years, I wouldn't let myself believe this. Even recently, I've been cautious about receiving this kind of revelation. Why? Because I've spent a majority of my life identifying myself with my sin, which isn't good. I've spent more than half of my life treating myself like I'm my issue, my struggle, my weakness than I treated myself the way I really am. But, I'm a human being, after all! Not a human do-ing. In other words, I am not what I do. I am who God made me to be from the very beginning, which I'll say it again: Genesis 1:31 says I am very good!
And, this is true for you too, reader.
He made you to be very good.
And, perhaps you find yourself being skeptical about this as well because you were told over and over again as a kid that you're a bad girl or bad boy when you've done something you shouldn't. Maybe you're used to shaming yourself with the word "bad" because you've coupled your identity with your mistake.
Or, maybe you're afraid to find these words to be true because you understand the severity of sin. You understand its consequences, the damage it can cause, and even further, how you fell into it more times than once. But, that's sin! The consequence of sin isn't good. Sin itself certainly isn't good. And, even further, trying to pay for your sin in your own strength isn't good. (And, pointless, might I add.)
But, you?
God's first impression of you was very good.
Even when Eve fell into sin, God never asked what she became in Genesis 3:13. Instead, He asked her what she did. And, what she did wasn't good, but it didn't change how God made her, didn't change His thought about her.
And, the same is true for us.
God's first impression of us remains the same. Our being has always been separate from our doing.
And, you know what, reader? His first impression of sin hasn't changed either. He hates it. He knows sin is not good. And, that's why He took it upon Himself to die for it so you and I wouldn't have to. God is so good that He died for the thing that wasn't good, so that we might become His righteousness. Even if we do wrong, He promises to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose to make even that good. He can't help Himself. All that God knows to do is good. It's who He is. It's in His blood. He made people good in the beginning, and He promises us in His word that He'll make all things new in the end.
So, run with this. Run with the truth of God's word. His first impression of you was very good. And, in a world where everyone's thoughts are accessible, don't forget that this is the only thought that counts.
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