Gracious

Luke 4:22
And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips

This weekend I started reading Self Talk, Soul Talk by Jennifer Rothschild. I was suspicious at first. I was afraid it was a self-help book masquerading as biblical truth. Self-help books don't seem to be a good use of paper most of the time.

This one is good so far. Rothschild says at one point that she sure she wouldn't stand for someone else talking to her the same way she talks to herself. And I'd say on the other side that I would never in a million words say some of the things that I think about myself to anyone. Ever. I don't really even think those things about other people. Most of the time.

How does that happen? Why do I have a different standard for myself?

Graciousness and power, that was what people heard when Jesus spoke. Truth with compassion and kindness and you know he was tested...Peter alone was probably enough to test Jesus' graciousness.

The idea of Self Talk Soul Talk is that this internal monologue is natural and most of us have things that we say to ourselves that we shouldn't. And while we can't eliminate those, with God's help, we can replace them with better things, things to build up instead of tear down, things to draw us closer to God.