DAILY ENCOUNTER ~ Monday, September 04/00

by Dick Innes ~ ACTS International http://www.actsweb.org Partnering with NCF Ministries: http://www.ncfliving.org

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[1] LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF

“The most important one [commandment],” answered Jesus, “is this: `Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31, NIV).

Most readers will recall the devastating defeat a few brief years ago of self-appointed “world leader” and how he declared that his country had won the war! As Cecil Osborne said, “This is reminiscent of the claim of one pharaoh who, after devastating defeat at the hands of an enemy, had a thirty-foot statue of himself erected to commemorate ‘the glorious victory over a ravaged enemy.'”

For aggressive persons there is never enough power, prestige, money, or fame to make up for their low self- esteem. All these things they use in a vain attempt to make themselves feel important, substituting them for a healthy sense of self-love.

Jesus stressed the need for a healthy self-love. He explained to the questioning lawyer that the greatest commandment of all was to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength — and that the next most important commandment was to love our neighbor as ourself.

As someone else said (with tongue-in-check), “And heaven help your neighbor if you hate yourself!”

The reality is that I can only ever love and accept others to the degree that I have learned to love and accept myself. What so many of us need from God and loving friends is help to love and accept ourselves in the same way that God loves and accepts us — totally and unconditionally.

It’s only as we are honest with ourselves, see ourselves as God sees us, and accept ourselves as we are — that we are free to change to become better, healthier, and more loving persons.

As long as we are in denial as to who and what we really are, we are never free to grow to become the persons God wants us to be. This is when we are tempted to seek power, prestige, fame, money or what-have-you in a vain and useless attempt to boost our deflated ego and to feel loved.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me to love and accept myself in the same way that you love and accept me, so I am free to become a healthier, happier, and more loving person. And help me to stop relying on power, fame, money, prestige or anything else for a false substitute for a healthy sense of self-love and acceptance. Gratefully in Jesus’ name. Amen.”