The 2nd Greatest Commandment

One of the greatest, most memorable and eye-opening thing I learned in college also happens to be the hardest thing for me to live out. It's a great piece of knowledge, something everyone should know. To know it is wise, to live it even better. It comes from the passage in Scripture about the greatest commandment...

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 

Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and 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.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." 

Matthew 22:36-40 

It's a passage many of us have heard, practiced, memorized or had drilled into us..."love your neighbor as yourself"..."love the Lord your God with all your heart..." but many of us miss something vital in those words. Most people see that we should 1) Love God and 2) Love your neighbor. The thing most people miss, though, is that in order to love our neighbor as ourselves, we must first, love ourselves. So the order really goes...

1) Love God
2) Love yourself
3) Love your neighbor

The first time someone pointed this out to me, actually, the ONLY time someone pointed this out to me, I was dumbfounded. As a self-proclaimed church kid I was completely sold on the concept of loving God and putting everyone else first. Seems accurate, right? I mean, after all, God did send his Son to the earth to die for everyone else....Jesus was the ultimate example of humility.

The way God worked it out though, is that to love others I must love myself. If I can't love myself, how can I be an example of love to others? Personally I find it difficult to love others when I don't love myself because when I loathe myself the way I often do, I get so wrapped up in my own pity party that I don't even have time to think about others (unless of course I'm comparing myself to them, which only elicits more hatred).

Like most people, I go through phases. This last week I was in a "I hate my life and every part of myself" phase. I had every reason and no reason to feel the way I've felt. I've spent most of my days insecure about how I look and what I have, feeling totally inadequate as a woman, a christian, a friend and human. I've cried. I've worn workout clothes to avoid my closet and the inches hidden around my waist. I've complained and been irritated and vented to friends, my mom, my sister.... I've been in one heck of an ugly phase, but I think I'm moving on. It's time I start loving myself for more than what I look like, and at the same time...it's time to learn to love how I look no matter what I'm wearing, if I've worked out enough this week, no matter what the number on my scale says (which I actually don't even know because I refuse to step on it).

I want to love me because God loves me. Because he has grace on me and loves me despite my flaws. He loves unconditionally and it's time I start doing the same.

Love Just.