Accept Your Worth

Raise your hand if you've ever felt a moment of self-doubt. Raise your hand if you've ever wondered "What on earth am I doing here?!" Raise your hand if you are really good at noticing strengths in others but areas for improvement in your self.

Why do we do that?! Why do we put more value on others than we do ourselves?! I know that Christ calls us to to "love our neighbor as ourselves," but sometimes it feels like we love our neighbor more than ourselves. We will bring them a meal when they are in need, but we will starve ourselves because we think we are too fat. We will let them plan the next family gathering because they were unhappy last year, but we will keep our mouth shut because we fear it may ruffle feathers. We will give them every advantage in life we never had growing up, but we will sacrifice our hopes and dreams in order to fulfill theirs.

Even as Christ calls us to make sacrifices, I challenge the idea that some of us have changed the His command to "love your neighbor better than yourself." This is an unhealthy and unwise way to live. How can you possibly give to others what you do not have yourself? You must first seek to love the LORD, then love yourself, and THEN you can be strong enough to love on others.

But what does that look like? What does it mean to first seek to love the LORD? It means that you accept the love He extends to you through His death and resurrection. It means you spend time with Him daily by being in His Word and being in prayer. It means you begin to seek the meaning He has placed on your life, the value He has placed on your head.

And what does it mean to love ourselves? What does that feel like? For some of us it may feel very foreign. It may feel forced. It may feel way out of our comfort zone. But it begins with accepting who God made you to be. He made you to be a witness of His love and grace. In Jeremiah 29:11 He says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." That sounds to me like God has a purpose for each of us and we need to believe in Him and feel confident in ourselves in order to live out that purpose.

Accepting who God made you to be means that you do not wish you were someone else or somehow better (thinner, smarter, taller, more athletic, etc...) than you already are. It means you embrace the unique person God designed you to be, the unique path He set you on, the unique purpose He has placed before you, and only you. It means that YOU are a beloved child of the Most High God and that alone gives you value and worth. No need to keep searching for your meaning or your purpose or your worth. He has given it to you, therefore it is yours!

That may take a while to sink in.

Let it.

Let it go down deep into your soul.

Let it find a comfortable place of acceptance and let it take root there. Let it begin to fill you from that deep place. Let it begin to give you a new comfort and strength. Let it begin to well up within you. Let it begin to bubble out from you. Then, and ONLY then, will you be able to "love your neighbor as yourself!"

Once you understand the love God has for you, you will be able to understand how to love yourself and then how to share that with others. God has designed our paths to cross with each other. We are meant for relational living. And in doing so we must strive to know God, know ourselves, and know our neighbors. When we understand, when we know, when we can share in God's love, it can release a power so mighty that it can change the world. YOUR value, YOUR worth can change the world.

My prayer for you today is that you feel God's love for you deep down in your soul. I pray that whatever is keeping you from knowing His peace is released from your life. I pray that His love will wash over you like a flood and you will find comfort and strength from His warm embrace. I pray that as God's love fills your life that you will begin to love yourself. I pray that you will discover your purpose and that you will take hold of it with all your might. And I pray that as you begin to overflow with God's love that you will not be able to help it but to spill it out onto others.

Until We Meet Again,

Drea

p.s - For my regular followers:
I have decided that I will be posting on "in FAITH...with Coffee" each weekday and taking a break on the weekends.
However this week we received a challenge in church to walk through the book of 1st Peter. The book has 5 chapters and so I am going to read and explore one chapter a day here in the blog. Starting tomorrow, Wednesday, and going through Sunday morning. I hope you will join me as I study what God has to say through this small but powerful book.