When you walk down memory lane and reflect on your life you will find many events that cause you to question for salvation or if your belief is not genuine. A real deceitful tactic that the enemy uses to pull us away from our relationship with Jesus. You may also find that there are things you still hold against yourself and may even resent yourself for many things done in the past. If you do, it’s time to begin the process of forgiving yourself knowing that Jesus has already paid in full for those very things you deplore. Once you forgive yourself, and ask the Lord to wash those things away, you will be free to love others as you now love yourself. Keep in mind this love is not emotional, but a commitment to serve the LORD.
Mark 12:28-31 (KJV)
(28) And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, which is the first commandment of all? (29) And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: (30) And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. (31) And the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Where is what Jesus says here located in the Old Covenant?
Leviticus 19: 17-18 (KJV)
(17) Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him. (18) Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD.
Focus here is on verse Mark 31. It was interesting today as I was out grocery shopping and stopped at a red light when I heard in my mind that unless you love yourself there is no way you can love your neighbor. As it shows in Leviticus 18 we cannot hold a grudge against the children of thy people and in verse 17 we are to not harbor hate in our hearts, nor are we to correct or set straight our neighbor. Well, the part that really strikes at the heart of these verses is “THYSELF.” Why is that you ask? It is because of all the junk we have done throughout our life—either before and after accepting Jesus and believing in the gospel message. We simply cannot be free to love anyone until we no longer hold grudges against ourselves or hate for those ungodly things we committed. In fact, there is no way to love God until we learn to love ourselves as God’s creation for His service. Think about how we judge ourselves every time we do something that we believe violates our relationship with Jesus. We rush to ask for forgiveness, and often that asking does not include repentance which leads us to repeat the same things again. So, guilt and dislike enter that causes us to believe we lost our salvation, or God no longer loves us. Well, that simply isn’t true. But before I get too fat into the weeds here, let me say this when we go to the Lord to forgive our transgressions: We need to forgive ourselves as well as asking the Lord to do so. You see, if we hold any grudges, hate, or dislike for ourselves, forgiveness simply does not happen because we are still holding onto the transgression. It is impossible to love anyone, including self, if forgiveness is not complete and that forgiveness includes a repentant heart. There is so much more to say about how we remove ourselves from God’s love because we hold something against ourselves.
In closing, to do what God has set before us “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” we must include forgiving ourselves as we ask the Lord to forgive us our transgressions. That is the heart and soul of the Lord’s prayer—forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors [letting go of both the wrong and the resentment].
God bless each reader knowing that God has forgave you through the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. There no longer is need for sacrifice in blood or a penance for the forgiveness of sin. Performing a penance is a self-judgment that does not remove disdain for self. To love others begins with letting go, loving yourself so you can fully commit to serving the Lord.
Michael
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