A Look in the Mirror
I listened to a little speech the other day about self-esteem which got me thinking. I always want to tie things into my posts for The Rebel Christian so I had to sit down and write this one out before deciding to save it to my article files. Self-esteem is something that’s important but I honestly wasn’t sure how to relate it to my faith, then I came across this scripture;
“And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31 KJV
This scripture points to self-esteem because it tells us two things. The first is that we need to love our neighbors, the second is that we should not only love them but love them as we love ourselves. Meaning, we should love ourselves. Not be in love with ourselves but we should feel good about ourselves. When we love ourselves we have a good view of ourselves. When we love ourselves, we think highly of who we are. We carry a pride that isn’t arrogant but has an air of positivity. Most importantly, when we love ourselves we want to uplift others which goes right back to our Word. Love thy neighbor as thyself.
So it’s important to enjoy who you are and look forward to who you’ll become in your future. Why? Because the way you treat yourself determines how you will treat others. Christians should always have confidence in themselves, we are children of the Most High God. Our father created the universe, what isn’t there to be proud of?
Ask yourself right now. Do you like who you are? If you look in the mirror, do you like the face that appears before you? Why not?
Did you know that 70% of Americans, given the chance, would like to be someone else or look like someone else? That means 7 out of 10 people in the US don’t want to be who they are. Are you one of those 7 people? Or are you one of the 3?
What if Jesus had that attitude? What if He decided that He didn’t like being the Son of God, our savior? Imagine where that would have left us. Believe it or not, the same importance has been placed on our shoulders. We may not be placed on a cross in the near future but each of us has a purpose on this earth that only we can carry out. No one else can accomplish the mission that you have been sent to do. So even if you could become someone else, you could never replace the person God meant for you to be.
Do you know that God loves you just the way you are right now? I’m not saying you should wipe off your makeup or that it’s wrong to fix up. I’m saying that the person on the inside, your personality and characteristics, that is the person that God is in love with. And He wouldn’t change you for the world. If God loves you this way then why can’t you love yourself?
So if you don’t have that Godly self-esteem we’ve been talking about, then how do you get it?
Start by loving Christ.
Jesus is love. He died for us because He loves us, He forgives our sins because He loves us. He lifts us up because He loves us. If you love Christ with all your heart and with all your soul, then it’s inevitable that you in turn will begin to love yourself. Because we are created in His image after all. We are to be like Christ, in mind, after all. Christ loved Himself and others so then we should too.