Self-Love

Over the past two days, we have shared the essential characteristics of loving and understanding love. Love is giving; love is returning to our source. Today, I want to remind you that love implies that you love yourself.

It says in Matthew 22:39, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself."

How can we love others if there is no love for ourselves? It doesn't work. On many occasions, I have seen people mistreat others or receive their mistreatment, and I wonder: Who let you fall? Although the question may seem a little out of context, I invite you on a journey to the Old Testament, which tells the story of Mephibosheth.

Mephibosheth was the grandson of King Saul, who was in the city of Lo Debar, which originally meant without order, a leader, or government. Mephibosheth was in this city because he was disabled in his legs. When he was five years old, someone who took care of him dropped him, which caused Mephibosheth to remain in this condition. He was in a state of abandonment and oblivion. The story goes that King David searched for a descendant of King Saul to show mercy and did so with Mephibosheth.

I take you on this short journey to the Old Testament because self-love is vital to expressing love to others. We often see people who are harsh by nature, and we do not know why they are so. However, our job is to love them and pray for their well-being.

In our case, we can sometimes find ourselves in Lo Debar, a place without order, without a leader, and without a government because someone let us fall. We often live in this state without pausing and healing, making us see ourselves as unworthy of love. I'm not leading you to believe you can do it all alone and that you are the most important person in the world; go, you! We are important, but our dependence on God allows us to be completely capable of love because He loved us first.

The verse does not say to love others, and if you have room, love yourself; it says love others AS you love yourself. My question for you today is: Do you love yourself as you are? What areas in your life need to be transformed to love yourself and others in a healthy way?

Answering these questions may move you to make changes, adjustments, and efforts. But believe me, it is worth every moment you dedicate to loving yourself as God loves you. We cannot give what we do not have.

My next question for you is: Who dropped you? You must forgive those who wrong you to begin your healing process and see that God put in you everything necessary so that you can reflect his love and goodness.

I invite you to invest time in knowing yourself, showing grace towards yourself, loving yourself, and reminding yourself that if there is breath in you, there is still purpose. Just because someone has let you fall does not prevent you from achieving your purpose; on the contrary, God uses those moments and challenges to equip you to help others.