Whoever gets sense loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will discover good. Proverbs 19:8
A line in a prayer got my attention today. It questioned, “Lord, what may I do to show my love for you?” We always need to be aware that everything we do we are really doing for Him. Are our actions ones of love? Possibly the place we need to start showing more love is at home, yet this may prove to be difficult. Frequently, we find it easier to be polite and kind to strangers who have clean slates than to show the same kindness to our own family members.
Maybe the love we need to show is even closer yet. We force upon ourselves a submissive mold in an attempt to accept who we are individually. We escape ourselves in a myriad of ways, all because we can’t seem to love the one called, “Me.” Christ came not to judge but to love us unconditionally, yet we don’t think twice about becoming our own judge and jury. Before we even hear God’s case for us, we prejudicially rule our flaws of imperfection and implement a harsh sentence.
Several years ago I sat with a man and gave him a little advice. I said, “If you continue down this path of drug induced self-punishment, away from the loving forgiveness of Jesus, you could lose everything.” Here was a man who desperately needed to love himself enough to get help. Unfortunately, he did not heed my words. As a result, the predictions came true. He lost his health, his family, his home, his job, and most important, the freedom he could have in Christ. Instead, he had become captive of his addiction and was blind to his own entrapment.
I still pray for this man because I serve a Lord who has set the captives free. In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Get help and fix your faulty solutions. When we ask this question, “What may I do to show my love for you Lord?”, just maybe we need to learn to love the person we can’t escape. We need to accept the one whose mind controls our every action, every day, all the time. How can we truly love others if we can’t first love the human God created in us? Go to God. Ask Him to help you love yourself.
Dear Father, I know you love me, now help me to love myself. In Christ I pray, Amen.
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