Love Yourself

by Bryan Vickers

No, this is not a Justin Bieber song. It's a reminder. 

I think we all tend to go through seasons of dissatisfaction; with where we are, and who we are. Maybe we aren't living up to our potential. Maybe we've made some bad choices and are living with regret. Maybe we just never liked much about ourselves and have spent a lifetime wishing we weren't this person. I tend to swing back and forth between being confident in who I am and what I'm capable of...and feeling completely inadequate, accusing myself of just faking it. I think they call it imposter syndrome.

Whatever the case, you don't always love yourself. But you should. For a million reasons. Just for starters, there's the fact that God created you. He wanted you, He dreamed you up, and He made you exactly the way He intended. Then there's the fact that the only good and perfect person to ever walk the earth decided you were worth dying for. And Jesus went through with this plan because God wanted a way to be close with you in spite of the ways you've fallen short. If He loves you that much, why don't you?

Well, I'm willing to bet it's because your head is full of thoughts about the way you are and the way you should be. Every day you listen to things like "you're not a good person," "you really messed up," "they probably don't like you," and "why can't you be better?". My friend, you are being lied to. Some of it is the enemy, Satan, throwing out lies and accusations to keep you stuck believing you don't deserve love. But some of it is you...lying to yourself.

In Acts chapter 10, the apostle Peter has a vision in which the Lord tells him "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean". In this vision God is speaking about which food is suitable for Peter to eat; but we learn later in the chapter that God is communicating a deeper truth: that the promise of new life in Christ is not just for those who have been born into the right circumstances and done all the right things. God's love is for everyone, even though we all were impure. He went to a lot of trouble to make us clean. So when I read this verse, it's a reminder to check the way I'm thinking about myself.

"Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
Do not call yourself ugly when God has made you beautiful.
Do not call yourself hopeless when God has made you with a purpose.
Do not call yourself unworthy when God stepped down from Heaven to die for you.

There is so much power in our thoughts and our words. The way we treat and talk to ourselves has a direct impact on our wellbeing. Stop believing the lies. Stop playing the comparison game. Stop living under condemnation. Jesus already traded His righteousness for your sin. Start treating yourself the way you would treat a chosen and righteous child of the Almighty God. 

Because that is who you are.