Start With Yourself

4 Nov

Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, You shall not commit adultery;
you shall not kill;
you shall not steal;
you shall not covet,
and whatever other commandment there may be,
are summed up in this saying, namely,
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Love does no evil to the neighbor;
hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.  (Rom 13:8-10)

We hear, over and over again, about how we are to love one another.

You would think that, by now, we would be experts at it.

However, we hear it over and over again because we need to.

We are not very good, many times, about loving others.

The reason, truth be told, is that we are not good about loving ourselves.

That is the very heart of the “law”:  Love your neighbor as yourself.

It is extremely difficult to love someone else if we cannot love ourselves.

Many of us find it incredibly difficult to love ourselves.  Often, it is because we see ourselves as being so sinful as to be unlovable.  We may have said things or done things for which we cannot forgive ourselves.  We keep ourselves trapped in a pit of despair.

A despairing person cannot see past the pit he or she has gotten trapped in.

A despairing person cannot love.

Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, it does no evil to self either.

FAITH ACTION:  Are you feeling trapped by actions, decisions, or thoughts made or done that have hurt yourself or others?  Let yourself off the hook and ask God to come into your life with His healing love.