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WHY NOT?
byjon
Hill
WHY NOT LOVE YOURSELF?
One of them, a lawyer, spoke up: 'Sir, which is the most
importan! command in lhe law of Moses?' Jesus repfied,
'Love the Lord your God w1th alf your heart, soul and
mind. ' This is the first and greatest commandment. The
second most importan! is similar: 'Love your neighbor as
much as you love yourself' " (Matt. 22 :36-39,
The Living
Bible) .
God !oves you.
You are made in His image, destined to become His son,
a member of the family of God, God as God is God!
But how does that process take place? First, by a recog–
nition of God's reality and His purpose for the creation of
human lite. Second, through a deep, godly repentance for
afl the actions and thoughts you have committed which
have separated you from the goal God set for you . After
these conditions are met, you receive His Spirit and begin
to live and think like God Himself instead of that wretched
person you used to be.
Yet it isnotGod'sintention that you should remain forever in
a stateof remorse and guift over the things that separated you
from Him. Yes, we " diedaily."Yes. it isa long ,hardstruggle, a
lifetime job, this repentance and overcoming.But let's tace it,
it is God's purpose in
yourlife
for you lobecome onewith Him,
as He is, a member of His family.
As with any father, He is loving and merciful toward you .
He likes you . He sees potential in you beyond your imagi–
nation. He's " proud" of you. The only thing He dislikes
about you are !hose things that thwart His purpose in your
lile: He labels those things "sin"-and He hales the sin, but
He loves
you!
Now. if God loves you- how can you hale yourself? You
are familiar.
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am sure, with the scripture which tefls us that
if we say we love God and we stifl hale our neighbor we are
liars and the love of God is not realfy in us
(1
John 4:20).
But, if your neighbor is a dirty, stinking , rollen, obnoxious,
sinning, hateful , rebel against God and His way-how can
you possibly love him (or her)? Answer: the same way God
loves that individual. Remember, He came lo save the
sinner,
not the (self) righteous.
Now. if you can have godly compassion on other sin–
ners, if you can. with love, cover a muflitude of sins (as
Christ has done for you) . if you can ' ' love your neigh–
bor" -why can't you love yourselt? lt it is true that you
can' t love God truly unless you also love your felfowman ,
then it is just as factual that you cannot truly "love your
neighbor" (your telfowman) until you have come to love
yourself!
Ooes not the law say: "Love your neighbor as
muchas you /ove yourself '?
lf you still hale yourselt-perhaps because you are stilf an
unrepentant sinner-then you cannot · 'love your neighbor.' ·
Think about il! How many giant guilt complexes have been
passed on in the name of God and religion? How many
conscience-torn people have gone to their graves totalfy
dissatisfied with themselves? Doubting, fearful , hopeless?
The
PLAIN TRUTH Apríl 1978
1
am not saying, "Love yourself, sin and afl"-but just
what Jesus said: " Love yourself. " There's a gigantic differ–
ence! But how does true love begin-whether of God, your
neighbor or yourself? With respect!
We are
commanded
to love God and neighbor and self!
Yet love is the most difficult thing to legislate. Love cannot
come by the "letter of the law," because that only brings
death. True love must come from the weflspring of the
innermost you-and it must come by the gift of God's
Spirit, or it wilf not be genuine.
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is something you were not
born with, but must acquire. ft is a gift from God!
Repeated more than once in God's Word is the state–
ment: "Wisdom begins with the
fear
of the Lord." That is
an unfortunate translation. because God's Word also tefls
us that " perfect love casts out fear." lt would be better put:
" Wisdom begins with the deep
respect and awe ot
the
Lord." We learn to respect and be awed by God because
of His creation , His love, merey, forgiveness, and His in–
finite purpose in our own lives: None of those attributes is
to be
feared!
lt is impossible to truly love any being, divine
or human, without respect.
lt's easy to respect, stand in awe of and love God-He's
perfect. Human beings, with afl their frai lties and sins, their
evil thoughts and doings, are more difficult to love and
respect. Yet God loves human beings, respects and has an
awe for the perfect design of His own creat1on , because He
sees beyond the
now,
the sin, the degradation, the Satan–
driven world of today- beyond to the pertect creation of a
loving son yet in the future to be in His Kingdom. And He
requires of us afl the same compassion, love. respect ,
awe-sometimes before we achieve that perfection.
Why can ' t you respect . love and stand in awe of your–
self? David, the man alter God 's own heart, said : " We are
fearfufly [perhaps better translated "awesomely") and
wonderfulfy made"l Each of us has the awesome and
wonderful potential of becoming a member in the very
tamily of God!
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!ove that, stand in awe of it. think
it's wonderful! How can you
not
love a being like
that?
We alf too oflen condemn in others those things we hate
in ourselves- and alf too often that condemnation leads to
hate of self and others. To hale the sin is required, but to
hale the individual is unacceptable to God- whether it is
another or yourself. Repent of sin: That's good. Then, once
forgiven, marvel at, stand in awe of and love the
new you
God has made possible.
God !oves you! Why not love yourself?
BEGJNNJNG NE.XT JSSUE:A
new series of art1cles by
Se–
nior Editor Jon Hill on "David-A Man Alter GOd's Own
Heart." King David ot Israel was certainly one of the most
colorful and interesting of Old Testament characters. Be
sure to catch each exciting installment of thls brand-new
series beginning in the May
Plain
Truth!
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