Have you ever heard of this? It is a phrase I know well. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term here is a definition by the American sociologist, Robert Merton:
"A false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false conception come true."
Or in every day words... You freak out about something happening and then you actually believe it's happening (when it probably isn't or wouldn't have if you didn't freak out).
For example: I cut my finger on a metal trashcan the other day and almost left work because I was afraid of getting tetanus. In spite of my anxiety, I decided to stay at work until my shift ended. For a couple of hours, I battled with my mind as I was paying attention to every...single... feeling in my finger. "Am I starting to stiffen up? Is this what getting tetanus is like?!?!"
You laugh.. but this is really how my mind works sometimes. It's exhausting, I know.
Then.. my mom looked at the "cut" later (which I believed was pretty deep)... and it turned out to be more of an intense scrape.
...Okay... maybe intense is still using hyperbole. But come on, give me some slack here I thought I was dying!
So we put some hydrogen peroxide and some triple antibiotic on that baby and voila! My finger is almost back to normal today and I'm not dead.
But for a couple of hours I entertained all of the worst possible scenarios this could turn into and practically convinced myself I was going to die.
I made an unlikely situation come true in my head... even though it wasn't true in real life.
Self fulfilling prophecy, my friends. It's a problem. I also believe it's one of Satan's easiest tactics to get us to stop focusing on Jesus.
If you think the world is going to end because there was an earthquake in Oklahoma... then yes, the world is ending today according to your definition. If you think you are getting cancer because when you move a certain way it hurts... then yes, today you have cancer. If you think everyone hates you because you think you have a weird laugh... then yes, everyone hates you.
See the pattern? Whether or not the world is ending, you are getting cancer, or if people hate you because of your weird laugh... you believe it... so it's true to YOU.
Think of Peter when he looked at the storm around him as he walked on water toward Jesus... he was doing SO GREAT... but then he started wondering, "What would happen if Jesus wasn't enough? What would happen if this storm was bigger than Him?"
...And that's when he started to sink.
He sunk because he believed he would. He put his expectation and his faith in himself rather than expecting Jesus to be enough.
Self fulfilling prophecy. It's powerful stuff.
But what would happen if our self fulfilling prophecies were different? What if they were positive instead of negative? What if we woke up every morning expecting God to do amazing things instead of waiting for the world to fall apart?
Our world would look completely different.
Expectant hearts change everything. If you expect the world to change for the worse... then it will because you are not convicted to do anything about it. If you expect the world will change for Christ... then you will be all the more motivated to change it for His glory.
It is because of expectant hearts that I saw souls saved this week at the revival in my church.
It's faith in Jesus.
Faith, hope, and love.
That being said, if you believe you are a lost cause... if you believe you cannot be forgiven... if you believe you are unworthy, ugly, broken, bruised, beyond saving...
Then you will be.
Self fulfilling prophecy.
Choose faith in Jesus, and you will no longer be bound by yourself!
"The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us."
Psalm 103:8-12
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