The Greatest Commandment

How often do you think what it means to love someone else?  I'm not talking about romantic  love, but brotherly and Godly love you have for another person.   Have you ever wondered how your own feelings toward yourself might affect you loving other people?  I have.

And I have come to a conclusion:  it is hard to love other people, as you should, if you don't love yourself.  If one has come to dislike or even hate oneself, it is going to affect his/her relationships with other people.  I base this idea on my own experience and on scripture. 


 Jesus said,“The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.   And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (NKJV, Mark 12:29-31).   

"No man is an island..." ~ John Donne

I want to talk about the part where he says love yourself, because there have been times in my past, that I have abhorred myself.  I was at the end of my rope, because it seemed I was always sick, both physically and emotionally.  I seldom had relief from the intense fatigue I experienced, as well as other physical symptoms.  I felt like I should be handling my life better, because I was a Christian:  I think I was angry with myself, because I couldn't make myself get well.  I began to feel it must be my fault, that I couldn't get better, that I was a lukewarm  Christian.   The problem with this kind of thinking is that I withdrew from other people.  And I could not feel the joy of being in Christ.  

Occasionally, there were times I felt God's Holy Spirit comforting me or I was filled with inexpressible joy, but it was shortlived.  The steady person, who I was before I was overcome with sorrow, pain, illnesses, fatigue, and depression, was not whole.  I did not know how to get me back:  I felt like I lost myself.  Have you ever felt that way?

Me and My Youngest Grandson  

I love the way God opens our eyes when again we read a scripture, which we have known most of our lives.  My aha moment came when the word yourself popped out at me.   If I didn't know how to love myself, how could I love others the way I should?  I'm not saying I did not love other people, but I think not loving myself as I should, turned me more inward.  

I am sure you have heard the saying, "I am my own worst enemy."  And I think that can be true, because I would never have treated other people as badly as I did myself.  This was a real conundrum, a puzzle to solve, in relationship to this scripture passage.  However, I found the answer. First, I asked God for forgiveness;  then, I forgave myself and I started treating myself better.  If I talked negatively to myself, I turned that negative self-talk into positive statements.  I began to treat myself the way I would want other people to treat me.  Instead of feeling withdrawn all the time, I began to feel closer to the people around me.  Eventually, reading God's word , praying, and having Christian fellowship helped me to feel more connected to God again.  Hearing the words of Christian hymns and choruses lifted my spirit.  You see, God never left me:  I was too numb to hear Him.

Prayer:  Father God, thank You for having mercy on me and showing me more about love.  Thank you for healing my emotions.  I pray you will help me to share Your love with the people I come in contact with.  And for the person I see everyday, myself, make me mindful of my thoughts and actions toward myself.  In the precious name of Jesus, I pray.  Amen.