“And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.”
Be honest. You probably just skimmed over Mark 12:30-31. But it’s cool, I don’t judge you. Mostly because the bible tells me not to, but also because we’ve all heard it four billion times. In fact, the company I worked for this summer’s motto was “Love God, Love People.” They’re not the only ones. I know churches and other Christian businesses as well who operate under the umbrella of the simple phrase. I used to love the simplicity of it, especially since God calls it the greatest commandment. Why not put it into a four-word motto that we can all love and remember? But then last month I came across a huge problem.
The paraphrase “Love God, Love People” leaves a very important detail out. Jesus said love your neighbor the same way you love yourself. I’ve always glazed over that detail, until God started talking to me this summer. I realized something. When I look in the mirror I say things to myself like, “Oh, girl. You really gotta lose 10 pounds before swimsuit season,” and “Mhh maybe you should stop talking so much, people don’t actually care what you have to say.” As I used words like fat and ugly and annoying to describe myself, I realized I would never ever ever ever say the things I said to my reflection to another human being.
But was I thinking them? It hurt me to think that I did judge the people around me. I didn’t love myself, so I was looking at other people critically, trying to evaluate what they had that I didn’t. And in turn trying to feel better by deeming myself “better than them” in some way. But that wasn’t love. I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t selflessly and genuinely love the people around me until I’ve learned to love myself. And I’m not talking just outward appearance. I mean owning my mistakes, my failures, my shortcomings, and the thorns in my side, my annoying habits, the facial expressions I sometimes make, and my obvious flaws. I have to own that, and let God be glorified through every weakness so the world will realize his goodness.
Think about it. If we went around talking to others the way we talked to ourselves, the world would be a very brutal place to live. We would never call another person “fat” or “stupid” but we have no problem telling our reflections those lies every day. We have to change that. We have to start loving ourselves before we can truly love others. For all you ladies, I want to leave you with something one of my guy friends said to me a couple days ago. He said, “I wish every girl could just see themselves how God sees them. Every time I open the door for a girl and they say ‘thank you,’ I just want to say, ‘Listen. You are so wonderfully and beautifully made. You are the daughter of God, which makes you a princess. It’s my honor to be able to open the door for you.” And then he finished dejectedly with, “but that would be creepy.” And it’s true. It would be weird if he said that. Butit’s truth. We are princesses and boys, you are princes, and we are all loved and cherished by a Savior. Let’s start speaking life to ourselves so we can speak life to others and make an eternal difference.
Also, MINISTRY UPDATE: I will be working in a school for the first three months in Guatemala. We will be staying in a youth center with running water, beds, and (allegedly) a washing machine. PRAISE GOD! It will be a great way to ease my team into our new lifestyle. I feel incredibly lucky! P.s. if you wanted to pray for the girls on my team by name they are: Bri, Gabbi, Alissa, Alexis, Erin, and Ashley.
Have a wonderful week, guys! Next time I update my blog I will be in ANTIGUA! How exciting!
