Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself

[Chad]

“If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” Jeremiah‬ ‭29:13‬ ‭

"Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself"

Learning to love ourselves appropriately is vital in winning the fight against insecurity. It is not the kind of self-love that keeps the focus on ourselves, it is a love that frees us to live in the light, to live in the freedom Christ died to give us.

During my journey to freedom I had to face the fact that one of my greatest obstacles was that I did not love myself. There were days I hated myself. I constantly put myself down and the negative thoughts I entertained only pulled me deeper into bondage. I really uncovered a missing piece of the puzzle—learning to love myself.

We’ll continue to exempt ourselves from the promises He gives us until we learn how to receive God’s unconditional love for ourselves. We don’t love ourselves because we are good. We can love and accept ourselves because He is good, and we are His creation.

God has always loved us, and still does. He accepts you under the grace of Jesus Christ. If God loves you, you are worth loving. What other confirmation do you need? He says to love your neighbor as you love yourself, but how do we expect to obey those words if we don’t even love ourselves? If you want to learn how to love yourself, start in the presence of love.

Trust and love work together in our journey to overcome our insecurities. You can trust God’s Word as truth because you have spent enough time with Him to realize He is trustworthy. In that time you spend, you find Love — God Himself — and love leads us to freedom. But it starts with an active choice to trust what God’s Word says about us is true, and it is an active choice to love ourselves despite how we feel.

The battle for freedom may be fought in the head, but it is won in the heart. How do we win this battle? It takes more than finishing a reading plan, or going to church, serving, and being a good person. It takes time spent in the presence of Jesus. Stopping the busyness, closing the door, and intentionally seeking His heart to find your identity, soaking in His Truth until you are changed. Seeking His heart is a dying practice, but if you want to win this battle for freedom you cannot let it die with you.

YouVersion devotional

 

[Wnl]

Hi All,
To expand on this post and create clarity.
To love yourself first means to accept yourself as you are, and not unto vanity
Why? Simply because you didn't choose to be born, of
What colour, what country,your parents, affluence, home etc
The symptoms of not accepting who you are, you want to be like someone
else in the world, you have tattoos, pins galore, surgery, colour everything,
nails, hair style, follow evil fashion, dragged into the worlds system and the rest.
All because you don't love yourself as you are, trying on the outside to impress
people that you are not who you really are.
Can't you see that the robber of this world is robbing your purse and you true
identify, you live the lie.
Take the mask off that you hide behind and be set free from yourself in the name
of Jesus Christ
Let me tell you a secret, all the red carpets the awards, the records, of world
events changes nothing.

Only Jesus Christ can change you on the inside, creating an acceptance of
who you are and where you are going.
With Love, Wnl