I was giving a presentation from my book to a group of women and I asked them if they had ever been called a temptress. Eyes opened wide and I said – not a temptress in a sensual or sexual sense – most women have been called that – I’m talking about being called a temptress because you presented temptations to other people the way the devil presented them to Jesus when they were in the wilderness together.
Those encounters were all temptations to doubt God’s love. Temptations to convince Jesus (God in the flesh) to doubt his own love. Ha! It didn’t work did it?
But you know putting doubt into someone’s mind about their self-worth really is temptation. The way we speak to ourselves, the way we speak to other people either helps people to believe God love them, or it hinders their belief in God’s love for them.
Do you really believe God loves you?
Do you really believe it’s ok to love yourself?
Do you really believe your neighbor deserves to be loved?
Our answers should be
Yes, I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that God loves me.
Yes, I believe it’s ok to love myself.
Yes, I believe my neighbor deserves to be loved.
If we don’t believe it’s ok to love ourselves how can we believe it’s ok to love anyone else? Self-love is healthy – Self aggrandizement, thinking too highly of oneself, is not healthy. But before you start saying that so and so thinks too highly of themselves – ask yourself if you love yourself enough? My experience is that people who have a very low sense of self-love have a difficult time evaluating the love quotient of other people.
Humility is not about self-loathing – it’s about a healthy relationship with the Lord – and that is centered on Love.
Loving yourself doesn’t mean you are saying you think you are perfect. Loving yourself means you know you aren’t perfect and that you are willing to work on areas of attitude and character that need improvement. Loving yourself makes it easier to be in the presence of God. Knowing that it’s ok to love yourself and that you don’t need to fear God’s love also makes it easier to come into God’s presence. God’s love doesn’t hurt, God will not hurt you. Maybe someone who was hurting you in the past said they were hurting you for your own good but God does not beat people into submission for their own good.
Don’t doubt God’s love. His love is gentle and kind, compassionate and caring. Believe that it’s ok to love yourself, even if you aren’t perfect – God will love you into perfection – not perfection in the way the world thinks of perfection in terms of outward appearance – God will love you into character and spiritual perfection.
Lord, bind up the forces of evil that cause us to doubt your love or our lovability and our ability to love. Open our hearts, minds and souls to your love. Thank you for the knowledge that we are worthy of love. Fill us with your love in such an abundance that it fills our lives, our homes, our communities and the world. AMEN
