No More Self-HateShembull

Consider statements like, “I will never be good enough. I will never measure up.”

When we make statements like that, whose measuring stick are we using? To whom are we comparing ourselves?

Sometimes, this issue of comparison is at the heart of our self-hate. If we are honest, we spend way too much time comparing ourselves to other people, and that comparison is compounding our self-loathing.

When you compare yourself to others, one of two things is bound to happen.

On the one hand, comparing yourself to others may lift you up with pride because you will believe you are doing better than someone else. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” If you are lifted in pride and later humbled, self-hate can result.

On the other hand, you may tend to compare your most significant weaknesses to someone else’s greatest strengths, and then you feel like a massive failure. You will end up condemning yourself, resulting in more self-loathing and discontentment.

Either way, comparing ourselves to others compounds self-loathing, and it simply must stop!

The Apostle Paul warns us so much against comparison in 2 Corinthians 10:12. In it, he says that measuring ourselves against ourselves is not wise!

Everything that every one of us has comes from God, as 1 Corinthians 4:7 reminds us. James 1:17 tells us that every good and perfect gift is from above. Ultimately, God is the One who gives us our talents and abilities. He ultimately sets the standards for our lives. So, in a sense, when we hate ourselves, we hate what God deemed best to give us.

Today, let’s remember that it is for God and to God that we live! Rather than hating ourselves and what He deemed fit to give us, let’s ask God how we can best utilize our gifts to glorify Him with our lives. And when we get frustrated with our inabilities, we must remind ourselves: HE IS NOT FINISHED WITH US YET!

The Bible says we can be “confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).