Things That Are Important

Over the next few weeks I will be posting about things that I find important in my life.  Perhaps they are some of the same things you may find important.  If so, I hope we can discuss them.  Simply post a comment below.

Accepting That God Loves Me Even When I Don’t Love Myself

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself. – Galatians 5:14 NIV

That’s a powerful verse and it’s found a few more times throughout the Bible too. And I’m betting you have no problem loving others. Sure, sometimes family can be a pain or our kids can make us crazy but when it comes down to it, we still love them. It’s ‘easy’ to love others.

 

But how well do you do when it comes to loving yourself?

“That was a dumb thing to say.”

“How could I have been so stupid to do that?”

“I’m so fat.”

“My nose is too big.”

“I’m so ugly.”

“I’m so stupid.”

“I’m not smart enough.”

Those words, or similar ones, are often spoken over and over inside our heads. They aren’t words we would ever think of saying to those around us – friends or family – but we can speak them to ourselves without hesitation. Why is that?

Sadly, society has trained us to fall into the trap of believing we aren’t good enough, pretty enough, smart enough, etc. It’s taught us that if we aren’t a certain height, weight, and skin color (just to name a few) that there’s something wrong with is.

Or what about when we keep reliving past mistakes over and over in our heads? Better yet, what about when we’re with friends or family and we can’t stop bringing up the hurtful things we did to them years ago? Often, they have forgiven and moved on and don’t enjoy talking about the past hurts but we can’t stop doing it because we haven’t forgiven ourselves yet. And, finally – what about when we feel there’s no way God can love us when we don’t love ourselves and think our past sins are unforgiveable?

Why do we fall prey to those things and think those things about ourselves? Especially as Christians. God doesn’t want us believing those lies! Just look at Psalm 139: 13-15:

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. -Psalm 139: 13-15 NIV

Did you catch that? Fearfully and wonderfully made!

But let’s face it, we’re human and it’s not always easy to fight the self-sabotage and negative self-talk which makes it difficult to show ourselves self-love and grace which is right where the devil wants us – ‘hating’ ourselves.

Stay tuned for some ways to face the challenges and come out a winner!