How Do I Love Me?

“A new command I give you:  Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”  John 13:34

"We just don't seem to care much about each other anymore," she told her husband.  "But here's the answer.  I've got to love myself before I can love anybody else."

"Huh?"

"Yeah.  It's time to concentrate on loving myself.  Then I might feel more inclined to love you." 

"But what's in it for me?"

"Well, you and I will have a terrific marriage if I can just love myself enough!"

We're obsessed with caring for ourselves.  The "me" generation dominates our cultural values.  That's why we believe that loving ourselves comes first.  But for all the effort we've invested in ourselves, we still feel friendless and lonely.  Something's missing.  Maybe our efforts are pointing in the wrong direction.

When we peer into the microscope of self all the time, we can't see anything else.  That's why Jesus says loving God is our first priority.  Self-love leaves us empty.  We become whole as we love God more than anything else. 

Jesus didn't choose to love himself.  He came to serve others.  We follow his command to love one another when we serve people in humility.  To find ourselves, we must lose ourselves through caring for others.

We're truly alone when we concentrate on loving ourselves.  We have to do all the work.  Here's the picture:  We're busy loving ourselves.  Others are busy loving themselves.  So nobody really cares about anybody else.  But God can transform us from emptiness of self to wholeness in Christ.

If you want to change your world try this:

• When you start a conversation, ask about the other person first.

• You have special abilities to serve others.  Use them.

• Evaluate your prayer life.  Do you focus on God and others or on yourself?

We can spend so much time and energy loving ourselves that we never really get around to loving anyone else.  So turn off your internal microscope.  Turn your focus toward God.  He'll make you a light for many.

Copyright 2006 Calvin R. Wulf and Lisa Are Wulf

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"When we peer into the microscope of self all the time, we can't see anything else."