Do you really love yourself if you don’t have them?

“For God so loved (insert your name), that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perished, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

I’m learning. Above being obedient, above being kindhearted to the people I encounter, above being submissive and humble, above seeking peace, my best self is the one who oozes love.

As disciples of Christ, our greatest commandment is to first love God with all we have and then to love each other with the same measure we love ourselves.

Could it be that you are so busy working to please God and man that you have missed the instruction to love you?

It can be so easy to get caught in loving everything but you. I mean, you know you. You saw every dark thing you stood through, every wicked thing you co-signed on, every disgusting deed that you sat in. You were there as a first hand witness to it all. I get it.

However, when you don’t allow yourself to love you as God loves you, you don’t need the adversary because you do the work for him. **deep inhale, now exhale

It’s not your job to always take the short end of the stick. It’s not your job to bare the burdens of everyone around you. It’s not your title to be the ultimate fixer. You could save the world and it wouldn’t make you any more lovable than you already are. You could allow your friend to vent to you until they’re blue in the face and it wouldn’t make it any greater than you already are. You could compromise until there is no more room for it; you could be patient with the immature until you’re 92; you could move up in your local assembly’s church hierarchy, and it will not make any superior than you already are.

It’s not your works, but identity that makes you valuable. That’s why John tells us to love to do the will of God. Works fade, seasons change, people perish, but His will is everlasting. ( 1 John 2:17)

Whether it’s tomorrow or 10 years from now, God’s desire for you is that you love and be loved. He performed the greatest act of love for you through enduring the greatest sacrifice for you. Embrace that. Revel in that. And from that place, you love- starting with YOU.

How can you say you truly love if you struggle to give it to the one person you truly do life with?! No one knows you better than you. All that you’ve grown through, all that you’ve endured, and yet, God still chose you to love. What could be so wrong with you that you can’t do the same?

Choose you. Even on the hardest days. When you can’t find a reason to love you, ask the Father. He created you and found delight in you!! He STILL finds delight in you. Honor that.

You start honoring it by implementing boundaries!! Boundaries are the healthy ‘no’s’ and necessary ‘that is not my problem’ that we all need to keep life’s distracting jewels out and God’s purpose in.

Stop letting people do you any kind of way. Stop letting life handle you like a piece of chewed up gum. You’re worth loving. Worth protecting. Worth sticking beside. Stop waiting on someone else to do what He commanded you to do. It’ll never come if you don’t lead the way.

It starts with you.

Love you bunches ❤️

– JB