Luke 10:27-29 (NRSV)
(Jesus) answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
But wanting to justify himself, (the lawyer) asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
And we're still asking this today, aren't we? This one conversation is one loaded one, isn't it?
Who is your neighbor? Who is the person you are to love as yourself?
And even before that, what does it mean to love yourself? What does Jesus mean to love yourself?
Let's start there. This dialogue might be worthy of looking at more than once.
What does it mean to love yourself?
In an age of self-help books and self-esteem workshops, we might thing we know.
But loving self isn't simply self-esteem.
It isn't pride in our accomplishments and position in life.
It is acceptance. It is self-forgiveness. It is stark honesty about who we really are. It is waking up every day knowing that we are both saint and sinner and that we have a God who loves us as we are.
And then...only then...can we love ourselves enough to have the strength to truly love others. Others who disappoint us just as often as we disappoint ourselves.
So before we ask who our neighbor is, we first must ask ourselves: Do I see myself as God sees me? And can I love that person in the mirror?
Lord, I see through a glass dimly. I don't see myself sometimes as I truly am. Awaken in my the truth of myself so that I can love myself as you love me and then share that love beyond. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment