“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus reiterates this Old Testament commandment in the Gospels. On one hand, it’s a picture of HOW to love other people. In Matthew 7:12, Jesus says, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.” But let’s rotate this command just slightly, as if it were a prism, and peer into another facet. Jesus is also reminding us to love ourselves. Not in a selfish way that gives us permission to take from others (2 Timothy 3:12) or even in ways that we think we deserve but actually can cause us harm. As we learn to love ourselves as Jesus says, we must first consider the first and “most important” commandment: “‘Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Jesus was referring to the Shema from the Old Testament. Making God first and foremost in every aspect of our being helps us better understand who we are and how fully and deeply He loves us. We were made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26). And our capacity to love others — and ourselves — flows from Him. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because He first loved us.” 1 Corinthians 13 offers characteristics of His love, and we ought to remind ourselves of the entire list frequently. But for the sake of time, we’ll reflect on just a few. Love is “patient and kind” (v. 4a). Are you patient with yourself? Do you give yourself grace when you make mistakes? Is your self talk kind? Do you care for yourself emotionally, spiritually and physically? Love “does not envy” (1 Corinthians 13:4b). Are we loving ourselves as we should when we compare ourselves to others and envy what they have? We have a tendency to look around and wish we had her body, her skin, her opportunities, her qualities, her family, her friends. But that envy is rotting our wellbeing. Love “rejoices with truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). We don’t lie to anyone more than we lie to ourselves. Being honest with ourselves centers our minds and hearts and gives us the ability to move forward and move on. “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). Loving yourself is pushing through hard things and believing you can. Loving yourself is forgiving yourself. Loving yourself is allowing yourself to have hope. Hope that you are worthy of love. And hope that you are loved by an almighty God and Savior. Let’s pray. Jesus, you love us so much that you went to the cross for each woman in this room and every person who may read this message later. Teach us to love ourselves rightly — with humility, truth and grace. Show us how to love others with patience and kindness. And most of all, help us to love God with all our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength. Amen
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AuthorChantelle Kammerdiener Archives
February 2025
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