04/16/2023 - My Big Fat Bias: Take Every Thought Captive!

Watch this Week's Message

ICEBREAKER
Would you rather be right on time or early to a meeting or gathering?

We're discussing a teaching series from church called "By Big Fat Bias: Letting God Shape the Thoughts that Shape You." This series, which is part of a larger series of teachings on wise-decision making, is exploring various cognitive biases we all tend to have in our minds that need to be managed or overcome in order to make godly decisions. This week, our discussion will be around what's known in psychology as the Actor-Observer Bias but more commonly known as blaming and judging others.

REVIEW & DISCUSS

1. Read or review Numbers 20:1-13, Exodus 17:1-7 and Deuteronomy 1:37.
   1. Have you ever led or imagine leading a road trip where the people with you (kids, friends, coworkers, etc.) were constantly complaining?
      
      1. What was or what would that like?
      2. How did or would their complaining affect you and your mood?
      3. How did or would it make you feel? How did or would it make you feel about yourself?
      4. How did or would you likely react or respond?
   2. Describe what you think it would've been like for Moses to have been obedient to God in confronting Pharoah and leading the Hebrews out of Egypt only to face constant complaining from them about their conditions and his leadership.
   3. What was the reason God forbade Moses from entering the Promised Land? See Numbers 20:10, 12.
      Note: Moses took credit for the work of God and angrily called the Israelites 'rebels.'
      1. What were the factors contributing to Moses' desire to take credit for something good.
         Note: feeling insecure about his leadership, feeling defensive, exhaustion, etc.
         
      2. What was Moses' response to God's decision? See Deuteronomy 1:37.
2. Moses fell to the Actor-Observer Bias*. He judged the people for their sin and attributed it to their internal wickedness (Numbers 14:27) and rebelliousness (Numbers 20:10). But then when he sinned by judging the Israelites and taking credit for the work of God, he blamed the Israelites for it rather than taking responsibility for himself.
   * The Actor-Observer Bias is tendency to attribute your own negative behaviors to external causes while attributing other people’s negative behaviors to internal causes and deficiencies.
   1. In what ways have you seen the Actor-Observer Bias at work in other people? How did it affect you and your relationship with them?
   2. In what ways have you seen this bias at work in your own life? How did it affect your relationship with others?
3. Paul says that as followers of Christ, we "take every thought captive, to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5). What steps can we take to take this bias captive and make it obedient to Christ?
   1. Catch it - What are some tell-tale signs that this bias is at work in yourself? 
      
   2. Name it - What could you do when you recognize it?
      
      1. How could you name it to yourself?
         
      2. How could you name it to others?
   3. Train it - What could you do or say to yourself to train this bias to be obedient to Christ?
      
      1. ​Ask questions - What kinds of questions could you ask yourself that would help you train this bias?
         
      2. Replace lies with truth - What lies need to be replaced and what truths need to be remembered?
         

PRAYER
First, take some time to identify ways you can pray about what you just discussed. Second, take some time to ask for additional prayer requests. Then close your time together in praise and prayer.