Negative Scripts and the Father’s Voice

I'll never forget almost being traded to another football team in high school. During a preseason game, I overthrew a receiver. My coach stopped the game. After berating me for my mistake, he yelled across the field to the opposing coach, “Who will you give me for this guy? I’ll trade him to you right now!”

I hung my head, went back to the huddle, tried to collect my emotions, and called the next play.

Peter Scazzero has identified what he calls negative scripts. Daily, and often out of nowhere, voices in our heads tell us we’re not good enough, no one likes us, or our work is doomed to failure. Scazzero explains that “an internalized message from the past shapes our conscious and unconscious behaviors in the present.” I’ve heard these voices a lot during my life as a pastor.

After I preach a less-than-spectacular sermon, in the middle of a difficult meeting, or when a staff member steps down, I imagine my congregation shouting across the street to another church, “Who will you give us for this guy? We’ll trade him to you right now!”

Becoming healthy church leaders and communities includes the harrowing work of identifying these scripts. It’s about the healing pursuit of drawing near to the Heavenly Father as those lies echo in our heads and listening to what he has to say about us. Close to him, we remember that he doesn’t want to give us away. In fact, he gave his Son to trade places with us so we could become children of God.