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What Do You Say About Yourself?

The Pharisees posed this question to John the Baptist in John 1. After asking several questions indicating who they thought he was, they finally asked for his own explanation of his identity.

This question is a very difficult one for many of us to answer. We identify ourselves by our relationships. We are somebody’s wife, somebody’s mother or daughter or employee. Sometimes, we do not even know what to say about ourselves.

Interestingly enough, we answer this question—“What do you say about yourself?”—all the time. Within 30 seconds of meeting someone, we nonverbally tell them a great deal about ourselves. Powerful messages are relayed through body language, facial expressions and the way we walk, as well as the way we dress. We communicate messages by the car we drive, the way we keep house and the activities we are involved in.

We talked last time about understanding ourselves as ministers’ wives and becoming the individual we believe God wants us to be, a very important step in spiritual maturity. If we know who we are, and what God wants us to be, then we need to ask ourselves, “Am I communicating nonverbally who I really am or want to be?” Answering this question positively is especially important for a minister’s wife, as much of our communication with people is nonverbal.

Some may say, “Why do I need to worry about it? Doesn’t the Bible say that man looks on the outward appearance and God looks at the heart?”

That statement is true and it should challenge us. Because we know people look at the outward appearance we want to be sure it conveys the truth about us—that others see in the outward the love and commitment God sees in the heart. We want nothing about us—our mannerisms, our dress, our possessions—to distract from that message. When we commit everything to Him, we include our nonverbal communication.

Prayer for this week:

Lord, help me hear what I am communicating nonverbally. May all outward expressions of my life be in accord with the beautiful work of grace You have done inwardly through the gift of Your Son.

Recommended Reading

The Joy of a Promise Kept: The Powerful Role Wives Play by Denalyn Lucado, Multnomah Publishers, Inc., ©2001.

PEGGY MUSGROVE is a licensed Assemblies of God minister. She is also a speaker, freelance writer, author and prayer group leader. Her latest book, Musings of a Maraschino Cherry was released in 2004.. You can visit her at www.musgroveville.com.

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