Learning to Love Yourself

Contrary to what we may believe, our Father in Heaven wants us to love ourselves. He made us and He takes no delight in us looking down on ourselves. And speaking harsh of ourselves, even to ourselves. He wants us to see ourselves the way He sees us. He loves each one of us just as much as He loves His only begotten. And in no way is He honored when we hate, dislike and mistreat His creation: ourselves.

Even in our imperfections and sinfulness we are loved by God. Sinners and saints alike. Jesus says in JOHN 3:16(KJV) that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." He loves the world. Yes, He hates our sin. But ,oh, how He loves us. All of us. Unfortunately, the sinner cannot come to know the love of God because they do not have the Holy Spirit, who reveals the love of God. But it is totally unacceptable for the child of God, who is filled with the Spirit of God, to walk around disliking or even hating themselves. God deems us loveable and because He loves us, we can love ourselves. For our God is Holy and since The Holy God loves us, who are we to deny ourselves love. Self-love. According to PSALM 139:14(KJV), we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." Our Creator makes no junk. No matter what anyone else says or thinks of us. God made no mistake when He made us. And He wants us to know how lovely we are to Him. Then we can have the proper image of ourselves.

I remember how growing up I used to allow people to say and do things to me that were not good and not right. At the time I didn't know how to stand up for myself. Because my self-image was so poor, I thought I deserved to be treated badly. But I thank God that He has made the difference, as only He can, in the way I now view myself.

Today I understand that I am no one's doormat. I am the child of the Most High God. I am seated in heavenly places, right now, in Christ Jesus, far above anything the world could throw at me. I am destined for greatness through the presence of the Holy Spirit, who resides within me. And I love myself today. And if no one else loves me, I'm still going to love myself. If no one else thinks highly of me, I'll still think highly of myself. If no one else accepts me, I accept myself. And I will not tolerate words and actions from others that go against what my Father says of me. I cannot change what people think or say of me, but I don't have to accept it. And I won't because I know who I am. Sometimes I even marvel at the difference in my attitude towards myself, and have to say with David, "This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in my eyes(see PSALM 118:23KJV). God makes the change, but we must cooperate with Him.

How do we cooperate with Him in order to see our self-image align with His Word? We go to The Word of God. As we begin to see ourselves as God sees us, by learning and agreeing with what His Word says about us, we can begin to love ourselves. Our behavior follows our thinking. So in order to do differently, we have to begin to think differently. In order to start loving ourselves, we have to begin to think differently about ourselves. We have to know what God says about us and replace our faulty thinking with what He says. Take His Word above your own negative thoughts towards yourself. Before you were the child of God, you may have been all those bad things you see in you, but today You are only what He says of you and nothing less. Think and speak of yourself according to The Word, and The Word will bring about the change in the way you see yourself. Stop putting yourself down, and start building yourself up with The Word of God. After all, learning to love ourselves begins with our believing and receiving God's love for us through His Word.