Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
(Mark 12:30-31 NIV)
God wants you to love yourself the way He loves you. This means that you’re not allowed to talk negatively about yourself. I didn’t always like myself. But the more I read the Word, the more it changed all that. I now see myself the way God sees me – as fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). Even on my worst days, I can still keep a positive attitude because God loves me just the way I am and so I’ve learned to love myself that way too. And when I sometimes catch myself thinking a negative thought, I’ll hear the Spirit correct me and I’ll repent on the spot.
When God looked at everything His hands had made – including me and you – the Bible says, “it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). When we don’t like ourselves or others, we offend Him. God-confidence doesn’t mean that we think we’re better than others, but accepting ourselves just the way we are – with our flaws – because God does. So the next time you catch yourself saying something bad about yourself, remember it’s not something God would say because He thought you were worth dying for. And when you learn to love yourself in a healthy way, only then will you be able to love others the same way.
Rising with the Son 