Loving You

Friday, July 26, 2024

Good morning, Lord

Verse of the Day:   Psalm 119:60 I made haste, and did not delay To keep Your commandments.

Memory verse: Psalm 90:14

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  

Today's reading: PSALM 43-45 ACTS 27:27-44

Loving You

James 2:8, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well.” (ESV)

Mark 12:31-"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

In this self-centered and narcissistic world, our attention as Christians much of the time is for us not to be these things. Jesus taught us this:

John 3:30 He must become greater; I must become less

 We must walk humbly before our God, Micah 6:8.

The Lord's prayer or The model prayer Jesus gave us is five verses long. In those five verses Jesus uses personal pronouns, referring to ourselves, eight times. Eight times Jesus uses our, us, or we. Although these are all plural, we know Jesus was teaching us to pray for ourselves along with others.

 Why? If we are to be about ministering to others, why is it so important for us to pray for ourselves? Some would say that is a no-brainer and I would agree to a point. But we are to become less and less, right?

The object is to love our neighbor. How? We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. But the scripture is packed with references to not be haughty and self centered.

How do I love Jesus with all that I am and love myself? The scripture very clearly says I am to love my neighbor as I love 'me'-not as I love Jesus-as I love myself.

 Eight times in the model prayer we ask God to help us. Jesus wants us to put ourselves in His hands so He can make 'us' right. He wants us to seek the kingdom and His righteousness so that we will be made right and made better day by day so that our witness before the world will be without blemish and people will be drawn to Jesus by His love in us. Jesus wants the change in our lives to be seen as something they want.

So what is there in us that we can love? The part of us that is created in God's image. That is a good place to start. The part Jesus died to save. But everyone has that.

 But---only believers have Jesus. Only the believer has had God miraculously recreate them and grow them day by day. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Only the believer can know God's true forgiveness and righteousness.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Only the believer has had Holy Spirit seal them.

Ephesians 1:13 You...were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

 This list could go on and on but it all boils down to this: Jesus said for us to love ourselves. That comes before loving our neighbor. That is a prerequisite to loving our neighbor. We must love what God has done and is doing in our hearts and lives.

Many do not have a good self-concept due to myriad reasons. In Christ, however, we have been set free from that and it is before us to learn to live in that freedom. What keeps us from walking away from poor self-concept? It has to be sin. Confess it. Make it a matter of daily prayer. With the mind of Christ, rise above it.

  Yes, it is hard for some and really, really hard for others. It is hard for those of great egos to empty self and live for Jesus and all of the rest of us, too. That is what daily growth is about. All of us have to become less and less and He, Jesus, fills us with Himself.

Love God, self, neighbor. You cannot know how to love your neighbor without loving what God has done and is doing your life. The saddest thing is that many have not scratched the surface of what God has done in and for them.

 That must be changed. It has to change. We must use those personal pronouns in the Lord's prayer to pray for ourselves and see what God reveals in our lives and how much we can really love our neighbor.

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven,

I have poor feelings for myself and I want to get my eyes on You. Reveal to me all You have for me one thing at a time.

Loving and gracious God,

In the name of Jesus,

Amen