And I Love Me!!

Wow, yesterday's devotional was great! Something that I never really thought about, but it definitely was a good thing to consider. The devotional was by Mary Southerland, "And I Love Me!" (http://girlfriendsingod.com/Devotions/DevotionArchives/2010DevotionArchives/September10Devotions/AndILoveMe92110/tabid/946/Default.aspx)

I never thought that we were supposed to love ourselves. I always associated that with all those people that were conceited and all about how they looked and acted in front of others. This really showed me differently. Mary S. used Psalm 139:13-14 which says, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well".

That verse alone should give us reason to love ourselves. And I don't mean to the point of being conceited and "above everyone else". God says that kind of self-love is a sin and that is not what is being talked about here. The kind of love we are to have for ourselves is the love and joy to know that we are made wonderfully and beautifully by our great God! He has made each one of us beautiful in His eyes and He wants us to care for the body and health that He has given us. And we have to love ourselves enough to care for that. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we need to take care of it. And if we don't have that kind of self-love that God wants us to have for ourselves then we won't bother to or want to take care of the way He made us! Doing this is in obedience to the greatest commandments that God gave us in Matthew 22:37-38, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself" Yes, it's part of Jesus' commandment! That alone should make it our desire to obey!! Mary Southerland ended her devotional in a great little paragraph, "You can judge the value and the worth of a product by looking at the one who made it. You are no accident. You were created by God - for God - and even if you were never wanted or planned by human heart and mind, you were planned and wanted by God. So, love your neighbor and while you are at it, love yourself!"

Ephesians 2:10

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to

do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."