Have You Accepted God's Gift of Love, Salvation through His Son Jesus Christ? Tell Me More
For a better viewing experience, please enable Javascript
Love Yourself
The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
- Galatians 5:14
- Galatians 5:14
Nobody knows us better than we do... We know what we want to do, and what we don't. We know what makes us happy, and what makes us sad. We know what excites us, and we know what bores us. We know what encourages us, and we know what discourages us... and of course, we know our good qualities, and our bad.
I was once told that for every success, there are at least 3 more failures.
However, with this philosophy lies a danger... the danger of weighing your failures against your successes. It can become very hard not to look at the scale and see 9 failures vs 3 successes, and it is not hard for us to let that scale tip in favor of the negative.
The danger in this, is that we pay so much attention to the negative things in our life, that we forget to look at all the blessings we have received. We focus so much on what's wrong with us, we forget to see what is Right with us.
We look so much at how we fail ourselves, our friends, and God, that we forget to see how He has used us. We forget to see the impact that we have had on others lives. We forget that God has a plan for us, and will carry out His will if we trust Him to (Jeremiah 1:5).
One of my favorite movies is It's a Wonderful Life. A story about a man named George who hates his life, and hates his daily failures. He looks back on his life, and sees his failure at being successful, his failure at being a good husband, and even his failure at being a good provider for his family. But then he is given a chance to see life without him, to see life without his "failures."
Instead he sees a life without his successes. A life, where without his positive influence, the town had gone downhill. He realizes that he wasn't a failure at being a good husband, and that despite the number of times he had hurt his wife and fought with her, he was still the best thing in her life.
At the end of the movie, George realizes the many ripples he made in the water. Ripples that kept spreading and spreading. He realized that his friends and family thought of him as a success, even though he thought he was a failure. And he realized, that while his failures may have outnumbered his successes, his successes outweighed his failures.
On November 08, 2009 by Steph
Great Devotion! I really enjoy all of them, but this one hit home with me. I have a hard time with excepting who I am. I definately see myself more of a failure than not.
Great Devotion! I really enjoy all of them, but this one hit home with me. I have a hard time with excepting who I am. I definately see myself more of a failure than not.
On November 30, 1999 by April
I just added this app and I love it already, this is really awesome.
I just added this app and I love it already, this is really awesome.
On November 30, 1999 by Roger
Response
Good question. God wants us to love ourselves, and to rejoice that we are His creation. And if we do not love ourselves, we cannot love our neighbors as God wants us to.
If we despise ourselves, or are angry at ourselves, or even hate ourselves; then we cannot love our neighbor the way that God commands. Because if we look at them the same way we look at ourselves in this situation, then we would be sinning (Matthew 7:21-22).
Instead God wants us to love ourselves, and take pride that we are His creation. Beautiful and wonderful in His eyes (even though we are not perfect, and we fail a lot). He wants us to know that He loves us, and because of this He wants us to Love Ourselves, and to reflect that love unto others.
Hope that clears up your question of how this verse relates!
I'm not sure how the verse Galatians 5:14 has to do with the devotion.
Response
Good question. God wants us to love ourselves, and to rejoice that we are His creation. And if we do not love ourselves, we cannot love our neighbors as God wants us to.
If we despise ourselves, or are angry at ourselves, or even hate ourselves; then we cannot love our neighbor the way that God commands. Because if we look at them the same way we look at ourselves in this situation, then we would be sinning (Matthew 7:21-22).
Instead God wants us to love ourselves, and take pride that we are His creation. Beautiful and wonderful in His eyes (even though we are not perfect, and we fail a lot). He wants us to know that He loves us, and because of this He wants us to Love Ourselves, and to reflect that love unto others.
Hope that clears up your question of how this verse relates!
Post a Comment
In the Forums
No forum posts have been associated with this devotion
« Burnt Out? | More Devotions | Let Us Be Thankful » |
Jeremiah 1:5
[5] Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.