When Jesus was asked about the most important commandment from God, He was quick to answer, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
I think we get that we’re to put God first and to love all of who He is with all of who we are. That’s clear. And then the second commandment, “You shall love your neighbor . . . ” is another part we understand. It’s the last part of this message from our Lord that so often gets messed up . . . and that’s the “love yourself” part.
Why do so many people have a hard time loving themselves? I think it’s because we are totally confused about who we are and our value! So I hope you will open your mind and heart and explore God’s truth about YOU!
First of all, let’s put aside all the junky messages we’ve heard or received over the years that have come from people and from our culture. Instead, think of yourself as the very special and 100% unique individual that God created when He made you!
Think of the Artist in His studio creating you as His masterpiece. “You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.” Psalm 139:13-15
Focus on God and His creation of you. You are just as He intended. He made you with purpose. He made you with beauty. He made you with wonder and artfulness. He is pleased with how He made you. You are His work of art.
Than then, think of this, “For God so loved you that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” From John 3:16.
God’s love for you and His desire to be reconciled in fullness with you was so great that He gave His most precious gift so He could have you back! He valued you so much that He gave His very best in exchange for you.
To top it off, He treasures you so much that He decided to inhabit you! He came in Spirit to live in you! Why? Because you are lovely. You are precious. You are valuable.
When we look at ourselves through God’s eyes, we see a completely different picture than what we see through our own eyes. We also see ourselves differently from the way the world judges us to be. And the choice is ours . . . the choice about who’s image we are going to accept? God’s image of us (which by the way, He made us in His image), our image of ourselves, or the world’s image of us.
When we accept and embrace the person God created us to be, then we can grow and enter into the fullness of our true identity. We can discover our unique gifts and talents. And we can step out in confidence and security. When we accept ourselves, love ourselves, then we truly can fulfill the second of God’s greatest commandments, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
When we accept, value, and live from the person God created us to be, then we never want to be anyone else!
Thank you Susan and I thank God for you.
Thank you for reminding me that I am God`s own image created by His own two hands. I sometimes wish that I had cute legs you know legs that are shaped nicely to give me confident to put on mid length skirts and dresses. I only put on pants. I wish to ask for forgiveness for complaining about all this, forgetting that there is someone who doesn’t have legs at all, or whose legs have been maimed due to amputation or something like that. I now know and am convinced that God thought about me before He started creating me. And when He was done crating me, He looked at me and said THIS IS MY BEAUTIFUL CREATION) And I know that He loves me so very much. Why then should I not love myself?
This was an awesome word. Thanks Susan
Thank You Susan for reminding me that I must Love myself first.For sometimes I have fallen short of loving me because of bad choices I made .I realized quickly that it was the devil who was trying to steal my Joy.That’s when I decided to drop to my knees and ask our heavenly Father for forgiveness. Afterwards I decided to fast for 21days.When my fast was over I felt more beautiful and loving person only then was I able to spread Love to my neighbors and enemies. Which was Gods “Purpose in my Life”
Thank You Susan for comfirming for me that God Loves Me for it is written in the Bible. I keep remimding myself that in order for me to Love my nieghbors and my enemies .I must be able to Love myself First For Sometimes i fell short of Loving me because of bad choices I made in my life which made me an ugly person.I started beating myself up.I realize quickly that it was the devil who was trying really hard to steal my JOY!!! I had to drop to my knees and pray and ask our Heavenly father for forgiveness.Afterwards I decieded to Fast.When my fast was over I felt like a new loving person and only then was I able to share Love to my nieghbors and enmies more then ever.For I know in my ❤ that my Gods purpose for my Life was to spread his Love as he did when he sent his son. Jesus .
I love how God confirms what he is telling us. this past Wednesday myself and a couple lady friends were talking about how in the past we had actually hated ourselves and how God had been healing us in that area. and I had said ” you know it’s actually a command of God for us to love ourselves ” and then I came across this piece on loving ourselves that you had written. I cant say that I love myself but I can say that I no longer hate myself and i now accept myself and i know that as God reveals his great love for me in a greater way i will come to love myself and will be able to more freely love others with that same love that the Father loves me with. you know our society tells us that if we love ourselves that we are being selfish and that we should love others more than ourself but in truth that does not line up with the word of God since he wants us to love others as we love ourselves. i dont know why it is so hard for women in particular to love themselves but i sure am glad that Abba Father loves us so much and Thank you for sharing i know this will help myself and others in our journey to accept and love ourselves.
THANK YOU ♡♡
Susan , thank you so much for this. I asked God to speak to me tonight and as He spoke I wrote down 3 things. 1. Be free 2. Love and 3. Forgiveness. I didn’t know what this meant in the beginning but then God spoke to me again and he said read Susan’s blog for today. I went searching for your name on Email and slap bang!! There it was! “Step into Freedom-Love yourself” . I read that your next post will be on forgiveness..cant wait to read it! So you see, when I asked God to speak to me, He did. I am so thankful for who He is in my life and for always loving and caring for me. Thank you Susan for sharing this with me, He spoke to me through you ♥♥
Wow! Once again our loving and faithful God is leading and direction. He is so good.
Be blessed, dear one . . . the forgiveness blog is almost finished!
Oct 25th11:55pm. Susan thank you for reminding that iam fearfully and wonderfully made by God s own hands I love myself I do thank God for making me after his image cause I know he really loves me keep up God work. Carolyn Williams
Praise God! Yes, He loves you and He wants us to love ourselves as we are in Him!
Glory!
Thank you. Susan i enjoyed this step it open my eyes and I see myself in a different light now. I can forget what others think of me and focus on what matters most the creator. Love God and mysell.
Awesome word, Susan and thank you… just the encouragement I needed to hear! Especially the ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ insight… I am one of those who drifted off on the ‘as yourself’ part… I now see and understand a deeper truth in that verse. I love how the Word of God constantly reveals new and deeper truths to us as we read, study and apply it to our daily lives! It truly is ALIVE! <3 And I am thankful for you and the sharing of your insight… you are a precious instrument in the hands of our loving Father. <3
I was given up for adoption at birth. Growing up I felt like I was someone’s ‘mistake’. It is so comforting to know that despite the circumstances of my conception, I am God’s masterpiece. Thank you for this message.
Dearest Michelle,
Yes, this is the truth! I am sorry for the pain you experienced. It has to do with our roots . . . yet, our true root is in God and His creation of us. I am so glad you know this truth and it sets you free.
Be blessed, dear one.
By the way, I am the mother of an adopted son. He is my treasure and I am so thankful God put him in my life.
Thank you Susan for that beautiful message about loving ourselves, its easy for us as people to give or show love to others , but i have not loved myself completely , because i have looked for others in my life to validate me , this is what i thought would earn or cause peole in my life to love me , but i have been sadly disappointed over and over. Ive always been to busy seeking exceptance from people ,which caused me to be resentful and hard on myself As i was constantly needin and wanting other in my life to love give me their approval, i know no that im so loved by God that he gave his only begotten son for me to have and live a life filled with his love for me and that in itself has made stop and look at my life and know that I have to fall in love with myself , because im worth it .
Dearest Willi,
Yes, you are worth it! God treasures you and loves you so very much!
Praise God that you know! Walk in this truth . . . and then you can give away to others the love that is so abundant in you!
I praise The Lord for His daily reminder, how great His love is towards me. Thank-you for obeying by writing these messages of hope, confident, and love!
Blessings,
Margaret
God’s love is a constant flow that we can get under and have it pour over us. He is love and He so loves you, Margaret.
Blessings to you!
Thank you Susan for the uplifting message. I now see myself with different eyes , God’s eyes because you have encouraged me to think of myself as a special and 100% unique individual that God created in secret and skillfully.How wonderful? Now I really love myself.
Thanks once again now I can step out with confidence and fulfill God’s second commandment “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF”.
May God the Almighty continue to bless you and use you to encourage others.
Linnet,
I am so thankful that God used the message as a revelation to your heart. Please remember this truth. Hold on to the truth!
And I love how you finished your message . . . that you can now more fully love others. Our God is so good
Thank you for the powerful words. After the hard times I have been going through this message shines a bright light in my life and now I know that to God I am wonderful and beautiful no matter how I appear to others but to Him I am the world.
Yes, the truth is from God. He loves you and you are lovely and wonderfully made! He treasures you and is so pleased with His creation.
Be blessed, dear one!
Thank you. It’s so hard to get past the worldly self image I have of myself. Especially after a half of a century and familial remarks like ‘you were such an ugly child” or remarks from the opposite sex that focused more on my body ie :”your a*^ is spectacular!” Or even remarks like “You’re not very friendly” make me want to hide from the world (and myself). I think that’s why I like to read fantasy or paranormal literature that takes me out of the known and allows me to escape into it’s pages.
I’m gonna save this to read over and over until it’s deep in my spirit. Thanks again.
Thank you Susan for confirmation on who God says I am. I use to worry about what people say and think about me. Always trying to please people. No more!! Psalm 139 tells us who God intended for us to Be. I love myself who God created me to be. Walking in purpose!!
Praise God! The truth really does set us free!
Love to you!
Thank you Susan, it is good to know my self as myself not as people think of me. God knows me better and I love that. God create us/me in his own image so I am special. Thank you for this special message of the day. Continue encouraging us day by day
Dear Susan,
Thank you for encouraging me in the word of God.
I do normal go to the mirror and look at myself and start talking to myself and confess the same words in psalm 139:13-15, it really helps me to love myself and a glory of God is always upon me.
Suzan you have reminded me as we see our selves in the image of God, so other people see us.
God bless you very abundantly.
SHALOM.
Victoria
Thank you so much Susan for all these messages. It has taken me all these long years to accept that God does indeed love me, I quite hated myself, and felt very insecure, but as he has steadily changed and is still changing my heart and renewing my mind I feel loved and loving. Thanks and praise to our loving heavenly Father, Jesus our Saviour and the work of the Holy Spirit. I am being nourished by the Daily Bread you are providing Susan. God Bless You Special much!
Truly, the renewing of our minds by His truth is what gives us freedom, confidence, and abundance. In that abundance we can give to others. And the most precious gift we can give to other is the Love of God.
Be blessed, Arlene. I am so glad you KNOW that you are loved.
Thanks for sending me that I really enjoyed the message I have always had a problem loving myself and still working on it now I have been through many things and still going through but I know God will see me through it thanks for everything.
Dear Alisa,
So many of us have struggled with feeling that we are worthy of love. God’s truth is the standard we want to hold on to . . . and His love for you is more than you can ever imagine! He loves you and He counts you as precious, lovely, and worthy of His love and the sacrifice of His Son!
That is the truth!
Thank you I needed that just please keep me in your prayers and I’ll keep you guys in mine
Great message… and I thought DAY 4 was deep “Love Anyway”. My spirit really received the lesson today.
Thanks for the inspirational message. It is an eye opener coz we cry for love when we are failing to embrace ourselves. Thanks
Powerful point, Jacquiline.
It’s like that old song, “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Place.” When we discover the truth of our identity, we can be free and better givers of love!
Thank you for this blog, I still struggle with self-esteem due to my childhood being called names and now I still hear them even though I have been away from those people for over 30 years. I have to tell myself every day that I am loved just as I am and do not try to be someone I am not. It is hard to see myself as likeable and love by someone in such authority of the universe.
You are treasured, Jodi. And yes, I too experienced the damage of other people’s words over me, and so I understand the struggle.
However, here is the truth. We can turn from those lies and instead focus on truth which is from God. The truth is: you are beautiful. You were wonderfully made. You were made in the image of God and your uniqueness is His imprint in your life. You are worthy of God’s great love for you and for the sacrifice of Jesus when He gave Himself on the cross.
That is the truth. Hold on to it. Get it in your heart. You will find freedom and confidence.
Love to you!
I just want to say “Thank You” for this message. It took me a long time to accept me because of the names I was called when I was young. I know now with God I can and really do love who I am, as well as whom I am. I will say it again I love me and who God made me to be. Again, I say “Thank You” and stay blessed.
I am so happy for you, Annette. My hope is that more and more people will enter into this truth and believe that every person is valuable, loved, and beautiful.
Thank you for your message.
Great message and I thought DAY 4 was deep “Love Anyway” my spirit really received a lot out of today’s lesson for me to store in my heart. Thanks.
That was a powerful message. Thank you for sharing Susan. Great encouragement that we all need to know.
Yes, we beat ourselves up and put ourselves down. But the truth is, we each are lovely and highly valued.
Be blessed
This is a learning experience and process for me. Thank you for sharing.
Yes, Yolanda, I agree. The key is focusing on the truth, which is from God. You are loved. You are valuable. You are precious.