I bet when you read that, you heard Justin Bieber’s casual and sultry voice. However, let’s read it again, this time forgetting the meaning of the song, just read the line.
You should go and love yourself.
Well, shouldn’t you? Shouldn’t you love yourself, and I love myself? I know that this is not the meaning of Justin’s sarcastic and catchy line, but it’s still true.
In Matthew 22:38, Jesus says “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Most Christians take the “love your neighbor” part and run with it. We volunteer for those in need, we bake cookies for a friend who is down in the dumps, we stop to help the elderly woman with her groceries, we go on mission trips and fly half-way across the world, all in the name of loving our neighbor. But what about the second part? What about loving ourselves?
Maybe we get so busy with loving our neighbor, so that we don’t actually have to deal with the, “but do I love myself?”
I know that for me, I don’t always love myself.
Myself, my body, and who I am, is the very first gift that I have ever been given. But I’ll admit that sometimes, I do not treat it or take care of it like it’s a gift, like it’s my most prized-possession.
The writer of Psalm 139, describes to us that the Lord knit each one of us together in our mother’s womb. He formed our inward parts. He knows the hairs on our head, He knew our days before there was even one of them.
There is a reason that He is called Creator. I have walked around this earth, complimenting the Lord for the majestic beauty he created. I adored Him for the alluring, snow-capped Rocky Mountains He created. I thanked Him for Lake Ontario, and the way the sun disappears every night, leaving a pink and orange reflection on the water. I told Him I love the way the ocean kissed my toes in El Salvador, and how beautiful it was that the most stunning and exquisite flowers in Panama stood proud and tall, never needing to be taken care of, and look at how much grace they hold.
Everything the Lord creates is beautiful. So why do I, more times than not, refuse to feel any type of affection for the only gift he has given uniquely to me: myself.
You may begin to think, “Ugh I know where this is going. It’s about to get all touchy-feely and self-helpy and I just can’t stand that type of stuff.” Or am I the only one thinking that right now?
But I think it’s important. And maybe you aren’t like me, like most of us I would dare to say, who only seem to ever have criticisms for ourselves, who always seem to have a long list of things we need to work on to be our better selves, who look over at the other girl to see what they have, compare it with ours, and then try our best to be more like that, more like her.
Maybe you aren’t like that. I hope you aren’t. And to that I would say “God bless ya”, and “more, Lord.”
But some of us have been playing this game our entire lives, never seeming to win it. It’s like we’re playing some ridiculous and frustrating game of Monopoly for most of our lives. We pass go, forgetting to thank the one giving us the $200 every time. “I have been betting all my earnings on railroads and hotels on Baltic Avenue because I never had the courage to admit I wanted Park Place. Let’s be real, we’ve all wanted Park Place but it was easier to lift our heads to the ceiling at night and whisper, “I’d be fine with Baltic Avenue.” I’m selling my hotels. The ones I built on Baltic Avenue, I’m selling them for sure.”
It’s time to take back what is ours. It’s time to truly understand the Father’s heart, and then submit to it. We weren’t created to just barely stand the unique gift that is ourselves. We were created to love it. And to live in it. And to live abundantly.
