Biblical keys to guard against self emotional sabotage
Love yourself
All of us have an inward voice that talks, and it is this voice that contributes to one feeling good or bad about themselves. No matter how many people compliment, if one refuses to believe it, it will not help ones self esteem. The bible says to love your neighbor as you love yourself, so if a person does not love themselves, they cannot love others. A person for example who has tried every diet on the planet and never succeeds may have already made excuses as to why they cannot lose; or the person who binge eats one last time and every meal is that one last time. failure can begin before success ever starts because of the lack of love a person may have for themselves. Self sabotage may also blind a person from seeing the real danger of their actions, or they just do not care. Loving oneself...
- Forces one to take responsibility for one's own actions
- Allows one to consider the feelings of others
- Forces one to focus on ones successes and not only on ones failures
- Motivates one to use failure as stairs to success
Take responsibility
Adam Where are you? (Genesis 3:9)
Adam did not take responsibility for his own actions because God gave him the instructions not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam blamed God and Eve by telling God it was the women you gave me who gave to me of the forbidden fruit and I did eat (Genesis 3:12). The one thing most damaging to not taking responsibility is its ability to cause a waste of time. Time is a precious commodity that cannot be gotten back. Many people who finally reach their goals often look back and regret the fact that the goals were not reached sooner. They may come to the conclusion that they were their own worst enemy.
- Not taking responsibility causes a waste of time
- Blaming someone or something may be a clue that self-sabotage is occurring
- Not taking responsibility sooner may cause regret
- Self-sabotage eventually proves a person is their own worst enemy
Consider the feelings of others
Self sabotage not only affects oneself, but friends and family also. Many times the people around a person can see what the person themselves cannot and it is this truth that can affect meaningful relationships. What are similar responses, reactions and comments being observed by surrounding loved ones? similar experiences may not simply be exaggerations, but realities that should be taken into consideration.
- Self sabotage may affect others
- Take similar responses and comments seriously
- Others may be able to see what one cannot
Learn to focus on successes
No matter where a person is in life there should be some positive experiences that one can draw from. Moses name means to draw out because he was drawn out from the Nile river as an infant by the Pharaohs daughter. The miracle of this biblical account is that Pharaoh at that time was having every male child murdered. Even though this was a tragic situation for Moses and his family, he was... as his name describes able to draw from his negative experience.
- He could draw from the fact that he did not die
- He could draw from the fact that God was with him protecting him
- He could draw from the fact that he was preserved for his future purpose
He could draw from the fact that he was provided for. (His mother was able to receive compensation for nursing him as well as Moses receiving the best education and upbringing of his day. Egypt was a great power. Romans 8:28 declares for we know that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord, so no matter how depressing life may seem to be at times, one can always draw from those depressing moments the successes that may have gone unnoticed.
Use failure in a positive way
Failure can be used to learn what and what not to do, or one can bury the bad experience never to utilize it's potential. Failures potential may become as stairs in the life of a person to guide them to the top of their success so there will be no reason to self-sabotage.
