ACCEPTING YOURSELF
Only by loving yourself in a healthy way can you love others the way God intended. When you don't love yourself you live with insecurity, and you keep looking to others for approval. When you don't get it, your self-worth shrivels. As a result, you live far beneath your potential. You are the only person you can't get away from, so unless you learn to accept yourself, you'll be miserable. Stop, and think about the last time you were around somebody you didn't enjoy being with - how did it feel?
Whether good or bad you project onto others the thoughts and feelings you have about yourself. So if you want people to think well of you, have a good opinion of yourself - one that's based on God's Word and nurtured by the right relationships. No question, the Bible cautions us about having an overinflated opinion of ourselves. But don't go to the other extreme! Living with continual self-rejection is an open invitation to Satan, who is always "sneaking around to find someone to attack" (1 Peter 5:8 CEV) Don't play into his hands!
Paul writes: "Nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature." (Romans 7:18 NIV) That means the good qualities you do possess are evidence that God is at work in your life. So be sure to acknowledge them. The Bible says, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." (2 Corinthians 4:7). Instead of focusing on your flaws and feeling bad about yourself, recognize the "treasure" of God's presence, power, and potential that lives within you, and build on it.
From The WORD for you TODAY - Sept-Oct-Nov.
14 comments:
Great post! Very thought provoking. And that is always good. To think about the good qualities that we have and maybe need to get better at...
Thanks for your kind comment today at my blog!
Times are changing. When I was a teenager in church, they taught that it was a sin to have a good self esteem.
Very sweet post today and always a reminder I need!
so very true. you can't give love to others if you don't love yourself first. thanks for the reminder.
Loving myself has always been a hard thing for me. Probably because my father made me feel so worthless but I am working on it and doing better.
This is one of the best posts I have read in a long-long time! You sure know how to preach it lady so just keep right on doing it.
I want to thank you so much for your prayers for my niece Teresa. I learned today that she has multiple blood clots in both lungs. The doctors seem confident that the blood thinner will dissolve them. However I am putting my trust in the Lord. He doesn't make mistakes.
Again my heartfelt thanks.
God bless you and yours.
How true your post is Susan. It is important to love ourselves, then we are able to give our best to others. Good words.
Hello dear Susan:-)
Finally catching up with your latest news...I was so glad to read how well Mickey's surgery went and that he's now recovering at home!! My prayers continue for him!
This is an excellent post...so many of us have a hard time accepting who we are and yet it's so important to be able to love ourselves if we expect others to love us as well. xoxo
Thanks Susan, my day wasn't the greatest and that is just what I needed to hear!
God bless,
Brenda :)
Dear Susan, I could hear myself agreeing with you as I read "Yes! that is true!" "O! I agree" talking to yourself is ok! too I think..........I love your posts and they send me off for a cuppa and a good long hard think. well done.
Lee-ann
Oh Susan - I so needed to read this after questioning myself as a parent on Tuesday's post!
Thank you for posting this!
One of the best ways to "build on" what you have is to increase your education.
I need to print this and read it often very good post.
Great post. Thanks for sharing it.
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