Some people do not know how to love themselves; therefore
they don’t know how to love others. “Love your neighbor as yourself,” is a
command that was given to us, and sums up all of the Mosaic Law. If you love
your neighbor just like you love yourself, and know how to love yourself, then
you will not hurt your neighbor. If someone gets you upset, would you take a
bat and hit yourself over the head? No! In the same manner, you should not try
to hit that person over the head. However, what about those who don’t love
themselves? I know of people who love me just as they love themselves, and I
could swear to you that they hate me. It may be because of who I am in Christ,
and those spirits in operation inside of them that come against me, but it is
not about me, and the lack of love I feel they show me. It’s about the lack of
love they have for themselves.
I’ve been there before. I hated myself. I hated the way I
looked, the way I dressed, how my hair looked, and so many other things. I was
always able to hide my feelings well, but the sadness, anger, and depression I
went through as a result was because I could not love me. MaryMary had this
song back in the day called “Little Girl,” and part of the song stated “Tell
you what you should do when you get up in the morning, look yourself in the
mirror and say ‘I love me.’ Even with all your flaws and all of your downfalls,
just be your best ‘cause to Him you already are.” So I decided every morning
when I brushed my teeth I would look at myself (and I did it naked since I was
a big girl) and I said, “I love me.” I didn’t believe it the first week that I
said it, but then I asked the Lord to help me to love me. I asked Him to show
me how HE sees me. All I wanted was to feel love. That was one of the moments
Jesus revealed Himself to me. God showed me what He saw when He looked at me
and it was VERY different (more like polar opposites) then how I saw myself. I
didn’t understand why He saw such beauty in me, so I told Him, “I don’t
understand.” He then explained it to me this way: when a child creates artwork
and feels it is good, that child will love what they created. No matter how
ugly or imperfect others may see it to be, the very fact that the child created
the artwork makes them proud. He doesn’t see my flaws, or how imperfect I am,
He looks at the fact that I am HIS creation, and sees me as good.
So there I understood that My Father loves me. I got to know
My Savior, Jesus Christ, and what He did just for me (and just for you, and
just for everyone else), and the Lord helped me understand… that is how much He
loves me. When you get an understanding of how much someone loves you, it’s
very hard to not love them back, and boy did I begin to love My God back.
Understanding that He loved me THAT much, and loves everyone else that much
too, I didn’t want to cause Him any hurt by hating myself or people, or by
hurting myself or people. I didn’t want to do anything that would disappoint
Him. And from that moment, I began to have a love for others and myself: a love
for all people. I didn’t look at class, religion, race, sexual orientation,
gender, or background. As hard as it is, I even try to look beyond the demonic
spirits that may be in operation in people, and just see them for the soul they
have. I saw people that God loved, and people that needed to experience His
love for themselves.
