What voices do you hear as you decide what to do, how to respond, what to believe, what to share, and so on? I’m not talking about actual voices. I’m referring to the filters through which you sift questions, such as

• What will (insert name) think?
• How is this going to help (or hurt)?
• Does this match up to the reality of what’s true?
• Am I actually able to do this?
• Am I doing this just to prove a point?

I was getting ready to post something on Facebook the other day, and I thought about one person in particular who might read it and take it out of context. I think it’s important to consider how things might be misunderstood. It’s important to consider the potential impact my words will have. Yet if I take into consideration what every single person who might read or hear something I write or say will potentially think, I would never be able to write or say anything. There’s a difference between being sensitive and being paralyzed.

I realized I was hesitating to post because of what one person might think while I was confident what I was about to post would be encouraging and not misconstrued by most everyone. Just because I had recently had a conversation that revealed a series of misunderstandings with one person, I was beginning to filter everything through that one situation…and it had to stop.

I don’t subscribe to the “I can say and write whatever I want and everyone else is just going to have to deal with it” school of thought. The truth is I cannot say and write whatever I want. I also cannot let others determine what I say and write. Only God gets that level of control in my life…more control than I have or even want. If God convicts me to pause and keep my mouth shut and my typing fingers still, I had better not rationalize and continue. If someone else’s voice begins to filter my own voice, stopping my words, I might need to pause just for a moment to discern whether it’s something God would also filter or not, but I need to not let anyone else’s filter override God’s.

No one can tell you what you can and cannot say, and that includes yourself. You are not sovereignly wise. You cannot always know the impact your words will have on others. You cannot always decide when something will be taken well, when it just seems to be taken well (and you find out later someone stewed about it for months or years), and when it actually needs to be taken not well in order for someone to struggle and grow. That’s all up to God, not you, and not someone else.

So, trust God. Invite him to be your filter. He knows what he’s doing, and you’ll spend a lot less time and effort listening to voices when you know how to hone in on and listen to his.