Create Love Margins for Yourself

Last time I wrote about the importance of creating margins of time and using your time wisely. This time I will write about the importance of creating love margins for yourself.

The other day a good friend called me out for not taking good care of myself. He encouraged me to ask God why I was willing to help others but not willing to help myself. Why was I ready to sacrifice, serve, and love others but not ready to do it for myself? It was a great question, and I appreciated his loving correction. After prayer and introspection, I realized I don’t value myself as much as I value others. I see others as more important than I am. This mindset and heart posture of self-criticism, another form of pride, is not where God wants me or any of us to be.

In Matthew 22:34-40 Jesus answered the question of what was the greatest commandment in the Bible. He tells them to love God with everything they have and to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Before we love others, it is vitally important we understand how much God loves us.

God is unconditional love. Jesus is unconditional love personified.

We cannot love others well if we don’t first love ourselves well. We will love our neighbor in a similar way and fashion as we love ourselves. Jesus loved others well because He knew who He was and Whose He was. We can love our neighbor in a similar way as Jesus if we first experience and know the love of God.

A verse in the song “Jireh” by Maverick City Music says, “I’ll never be more loved than I am right now. Wasn’t holding You up, so there’s nothing I can do to let You down.” What if we all truly believed that phrase? We can never be more loved than we already are! There is NOTHING we could ever do to earn more love from God or to lose love from God! We are loved. We are His beloved.

YOU are loved. YOU are His beloved.

Photo courtesy of freeimages.com

God’s love has nothing to do with what we do or don’t do. How we love, think, treat, and speak to ourselves should have nothing to do with what we do or don’t do.

I encourage all of us to ask the same question my friend asked me. Why don’t you value yourself? Why don’t you love yourself? And what does Jesus want to show you about those lies you believe to be true about yourself? Ask and be ready to hear the voice of Love and Truth give you an answer!

The time is now; shake the earth!

- Joel