Secure & Sent: Leadership for Church Plantersનમૂનો

Grace and Truth

The often-overlooked part of the Great Commandment is that we are to love ourselves. It can feel selfish and self-centered, but it isn’t. According to Jesus, it’s essential. Perhaps even more so for people in ministry and leadership.

The problem is loving ourselves is hard. Think about the first part of the command to love Jesus. Well, how do we love him more? We have to learn more about him and spend time in prayer and his presence. But with Jesus, the more we know about him the easier it is to love him. With ourselves, the reverse is true. Often, the more we learn about who we are the harder it is to love ourselves because we’re deeply flawed. And plumbing the depths of our sinful selves can be as painful as it is fruitful. We avoid it at our peril.

The reason we need to know ourselves more deeply is that it leads to self-awareness—a vital component in becoming secure in our God-given identity and finding the freedom in life and leadership that only this can bring.

As sinful people, being self-aware can be brutal. So, what do we do? One key is to remember who it is that is revealing our true selves to us, with all our blemishes. It’s Jesus’ own Spirit. He wants us to know ourselves the way he does, and then to love ourselves as he does.

What I’ve been learning is that we don’t have to run from what Jesus wants to show us about ourselves. First, what the Holy Spirit can’t reveal to us the Holy Spirit can’t use to transform us. So, there’s no use in running from it all if our goal is to become like Jesus. Second, we must remember that Jesus always pairs two things together: truth and grace.

If we will embrace his truth about us, we will be embraced by his grace for us. And it’s in that place—with God’s help—that we can learn who we are while we also learn to love who we are.