Good morning DPR :), how did your week go? I believe it’s rounding off in grand style. We continue today on our CHARACTER Series, and like we began with, we choose to see character from the portal of Love. What this does is that it brings Character Home from the light of God’s Word, because there are people full of morality out there, but lack the substance of Character in God, due to their bankruptcy in the spirit. Only the Holy Ghost can dispense Love in our hearts that produces genuine Character, Rom 5:5. This is the fourth post in the series and we would be considering the theme; What About Me? I find this pretty much interesting and engaging because it’s a question that rings in the heart of every believer when the topic of Love is brought up. The focal point of Love seems to be centered around others. Love God with all your heart, might , soul and strength… Love your neighbour as yourself, do good to others, seek opportunities to be a blessing to those around you, genuinely serve people, servants are leaders, listen, pay attention to people, think less about yourself (though people have misinterpreted it to mean think less of yourself, which I think is an awful commission), and the list is endless. And then the Bible now crowns it with this…
Phil 2:3(kjv) Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem OTHER BETTER than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of OTHERS.
… So there seems to be a huge campaign against self, and that’s why I took it upon myself to kinda be a voice for those desperately crying out WHAT ABOUT ME? Is the world, the church and God ever going to stop and just think about about ME, even if it’s but for a moment? Everybody demands from me, my kids, my family, my spouse, my friends, my colleagues, my pastor… The campaign is everywhere, but here’s a soul that of course knows we should love others and esteem them even better than ourselves, but sometimes is starved of the same quality which is demanded of him/her. I for one think we miss the point when we concentrate too solely on the OTHERS in all the scriptures and fail to realise there is one little detail that makes all the difference. It determines how much of a large heart we would have towards others. A lot could change if we see it for a moment as love your neighbour as YOURSELF. If I fry my meals on a daily baisis with a really large frying pan, I’m not likely going to go borrow a smaller one because I want to lend someone my pan, I’ll most definitely give him my large frying pan. But if I fry my meals with a small one, that’s all I’ve got to offer anyone who needs my pan. We need to love ourselves first and foremost and see the immense value in ourselves, that’s the only way we can love others genuinely and see the value in them, because primarily we see the way we are.
John 13:34(kjv) A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
That scripture right there puts the whole concept of love on a very balanced scale. Jesus here is saying that the best you can do when it comes to loving others, is to spend enough time understanding and knowing how much HE has loved YOU. Your love for others is regulated by your love for yourself. When you see people who treat people badly, don’t be surprised, it’s simply a reflection of how they treat themselves. If we do not receive God’s love into our hearts, we can’t give it to another. We can’t just simply transfer the love from God to man, we are the middle men, the love passes through us first, before it gets to others, we are the reflection of His person, we are the people the world sees and reads. When I see an individual, a corporate organisation or nation that treats herself and her people with respect and dignity, then I just found an entity that can extend that unto others. So here’s a clarion call to look within and attend to that starved self. This is not a call to selfishness but ironically a call to selflessness. The purpose of loving oneself is to have enough capacity to love others. Like my example about the pan, we measure how much people deserve by how much WE WORTH in our own eyes.
Psalms 119:14(kjv) I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well…
Does your soul know about how wonderful you are, about how precious you are to God? Your soul needs to really know these things. I hear people say things like this when someone asks them for something… “Even me sef, I don’t use this kind of thing, and you want me to give you?…” I’m sure many of us have found ourselves in situations where we had to use that punch line. The idea is to send a message to someone that hey… If I don’t treat myself this good, what makes you think I’ll go the extra mile for you? So God is saying esteem others more than yourself, but I like to add this caveat… What if you yourself are not worth much? If you’re worth 2 shillings, and you value another person at 3 shillings, you both even combined don’t worth much. We automatically increase the worth on others when we ourselves are full of worth and value. I must add here that the best way to see your worth is not through the eyes of your circumstances or your past, it’s through the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross. See yourself from the right perspective and then genuine love will flow from your heart to others.
1Thess 3:12(kjv) And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
Love yourself, treat yourself with human dignity and respect. Believe you deserve the best, do not settle for the low and mediocre things of life, let your soul know how loved and adorned you are. So that when you bring people into your space to love them and care for them, they would see how real God’s love can be through you. This is another huge building block in building a solid character. When we love ourselves healthily, our behaviour and conducted towards others will take a radical turn around. By the next post we would examine one of the biggest character flaws in our generation; “gossip”. Have a lovely weekend.
Proverbs 11:17(kjv) The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.