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The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14
For many people the idea of loving yourself sounds a bit suspicious. This is especially true for Christ-followers who have heard sermons on the dangers of pride and the benefits of being humble. But loving yourself is really the key to having a close relationship with God as well as with others.
Paul summarizes the entire law in one phrase: “Love your neighbor as yourself”. But we can’t love our neighbor until we love ourselves. Loving ourselves means that we are so comfortable with who we are that what others think of us has no bearing on how we feel about ourselves.
Jesus is the ultimate example of love. As the Son of God He knew who He was. That’s why He was able to respond so well to the attacks leveled against Him. Rather than reacting to the attacks in anger or becoming defensive, He responded in love and wisdom.
One of the most well used scriptures about love is I Corinthians 13. We call it ‘The Love Chapter’. The description of love in this chapter should be applied to ourselves before we can apply it to others.
“Love is patient…” We need to be patient with ourselves as we journey through life. Too often we get frustrated when we can’t accomplish a task or we fail once again or we fall into sin. Being patient with ourselves means we work as hard as we can to reach our goals (whatever they may be) while we acknowledge that we are only human. Thank your Heavenly Father every day for the fact that He is patient with you. Your actions and failures never surprise God. He never tires of brushing the dust from our clothes, picking us up and helping us back on the way.
“Love is not arrogant or proud…” Loving yourself means you have a grasp of who you are. You enjoy the gifts God has given you and use them freely and openly for His glory, but, at the same time you realize that your accomplishments are not because of you but because God is using you.
“Love keeps no record of wrongs…” Okay. So you failed again last week. Confess it, repent and ask God to help you do better this time. Loving yourself means that the mistakes of last week are gone! Move on now. Stop beating yourself up. Our Father is ready and willing to forgive you and you should forgive yourself as well.
“Love always protects…” If you love yourself you need to protect yourself. Don’t allow yourself to be put in positions where others can hurt you.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, sometimes it seems like I fail You on a daily basis. I look in the mirror and don’t like what I see. I thank You for loving me as I am, for being patient when I fail, and for forgiving me when I rebel. Help me to live as a child of the King because through Jesus that is who I am! Amen.
Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8
“The apple of my eye” is a phrase that expresses the deepest of all affections. When someone is the ‘apple of our eye’ it means that they are the center of our existence and attention. All of our energies, all of our thoughts, all of our concern go towards the object of our love, the ‘apple of our eye’.
What a glorious picture David paints of our Heavenly Father’s view of us. We are the ‘apple of His eye!’ Imagine that! The Creator of the universe looks down from heaven and sees you. Not as a number in a crowd or as the person in the red shirt. He sees you. He sees your feelings, your fears, your struggles with failure and defeat. He sees how life is attacking you. His attention is focused directly on doing whatever He can to protect you, to provide for you and to help you through the darkest of times.
Sometimes it’s hard for us to feel the love that God has for us. Our view of Him and His loving concern is clouded by many things in our lives. It may be the personal attacks leveled by our enemies. It may be finances, ill health, the inability to build meaningful relationships or poor choices on our part. The Bible says that NOTHING will separate us from God’s love, yet we feel separated when the struggles of life get in the way.
David knew something that each of us need to learn and live. He knew that no matter what happens in life, he was the main focus of God’s love, affection and protection. Even during those times when David sinned he knew that God’s love for him wasn’t less. Sin doesn’t keep God from loving us. Sin keeps us from sensing God’s love.
The same is true for every other obstacle in our lives. The promise of Psalms 17:8 is always true. We are always the focus of God’s love and affection. We can always count on Him welcoming us to the protection found beneath His wings. We can never stray from the shadow of His watchful, loving, compassionate eyes. My failures do not diminish God’s love for me.
Your Heavenly Father earnestly desires to hold you in His arms of love. He wants to wrap His arms around you, hold you close and whisper words of comfort and love in your ears. Don’t let the obstacles of your life keep you from experiencing the love of Your Heavenly Father.
PRAYER: Dear Father. I confess to you that I can’t fully comprehend that it means to be the ‘apple of Your eye.’ To realize that You, the God of the Universe, would love someone as weak and stubborn as I am is more than my mind can comprehend. Reveal to me the obstacles in my life that are keeping me from experiencing your love. Empower me, through Your Holy Spirit, to live in the shadow of your wings of protection. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10
Ten reasons it’s better to follow God’s way instead of man’s way:
- God has my interests as the number one priority in His life. Even though there are billions of people in the world, God is big enough and powerful enough to give me His undivided attention. He wants me to succeed above all else!
- God is the only one that knows my true potential. Others may see me as a failure or measure me by standards they have set for themselves. I may have bought into that mentality as well, thinking I can never be financially strong, build strong relationships, be a good parent, and be a good spouse. God knows better. He made me just as I am. He knows what I can do if I let Him have complete control of my life.
- God understands my fears. Fear of failure is the biggest thing that keeps us from moving out of our comfort zone. Even our closest friends may not be able to understand how strong that fear is. God knows. He looks on my heart. Some people may try to dismiss our fears as unwarranted and silly. Our fears aren’t unwarranted to God. He understands and wants to build His confidence in me.
- God doesn’t change His mind. Isn’t it frustrating when you ask advice from people and act on it only to have them say “You know, I think you should go this direction instead”? God won’t do that. He has your life already planned out. All of your tomorrows are in His hands. If He leads you in a direction He won’t second-guess Himself.
- God isn’t ever wrong. NEVER! Nothing more needs to be said. If we believe God to be who we think He is we have to accept the fact that He knows better and is never wrong.
- God knows what works. Thomas Edison once said “The only people who have never failed are those who have never tried anything new”. Who better to bounce ideas and dreams off of than the creator of the universe? Because we are His number one desire He will never lead us into failure. Many times, if we look back, we will see that the things we thought were failures were really stepping stones God used for later success. He can even use our poor choices for His good if we turn to Him.
- God gives me the resources for success. God loves me. He wants me to succeed. He will never lead me into a situation where I don’t have the gifts to accomplish what He wants in my life.
- God isn’t unrealistic in His expectations. Since He has given me gifts to accomplish what He wants for me and knows my potential then I can know that the things He wants me to do are totally within the realm of possibility.
- God’s rules protect me, not Him. Sometimes we may feel God’s rules are confining. Others may say that they won’t follow God because there are too many rules. Belief in God isn’t about rules, it’s about relationship. The things God asks of us are for our own protection and our own good. As a loving Father He only wants His best for us.
- Following God leads to fulfillment NOT frustration. Following people is frustrating. Everyone has their own ideas of what works, what is right, how others should act or react. Trying to follow all those ‘ideas’ can lead to frustration. Turning our lives completely over to God allows Him to bring us a peace that passes all understanding.
PRAYER: Father God, there are so many times when I’m swayed by the words of men and women. Sometimes, even though these people are well meaning they don’t understand me and how I work. I thank you that You understand me. You believe in me completely and want more than anything else to see me live a fulfilled life. Help me to grow in knowledge of you and to follow your ways. Amen.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. When you can’t describe something the best thing to do is to show a picture, an image, of the item you want others to learn about. One day God walked through the world He had just created. Birds sang; water’s babbled; the breeze brought the fresh aroma of blooming flowers to His nostrils. He felt the warmth of the sun on His face as he watched a lion cub playing with a new born lamb. Life was good.
As He continued His stroll through the garden He looked around and thought, “I need to share this with someone. Someone that has emotions and intellect like I do. Someone that can choose to love my world and me. Someone that, while he shall have a beginning, can live eternally with me to enjoy fellowship with me.
He knelt one more time in the newly created soil and began to form His most amazing of all creations, man. For a time He walked with man and they enjoyed the intimacy of perfect relationship. While it was fulfilling to Him, God knew that man would need someone like himself who would be a helper. Someone who would stand beside him and fulfill the emotional and intellectual needs unique to man. So God created woman. Together they would share the intimate fellowship of love only possible through God, their Father.
The Bible tells us that we are created in the image of the Almighty God of the universe. We can not, and perhaps will not grasp the fullness of that truth until we see our master face to face. Being made in the image of God has individual as well as cultural implications for the Christ-follower. Individually it reminds us that we bear the DNA so to speak of deity. We are set apart from every other life form because we bear within us the capacity to love, to think, to choose intellectually and to live beyond the time allotted this physical shell we call a body. We will live forever, either with Jesus in Heaven or eternally separated from God in Hell.
Culturally, as Christ-followers, bearing the image of God means that we show those around us the essence and power of God through our lives. The dictionary defines image as an “exact likeness; a person strikingly like another person.” The image of God that those around us have is directly tied to what they see in us on a daily basis. We show what God is like when we get cut off on the interstate, or get lousy service at a restaurant, or are verbally and emotionally attacked or treated unjustly. If others were to describe God based on the His image shining through you, what kind of God would they see?
PRAYER: Holy Father and Creator God. I’m humbled when I try to comprehend the great love you have for me. I’m honored by the fact that you want an intimate relationship with me. I’m so unworthy of your love and grace. As I go forth I ask that in every life situation you would empower me to show others an image of You that would lead them to follow you. Empower me to believe in myself based on the fact that I am made in Your image. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 