Love Yo Self!

Ephesians 5: 29-30, "After all, no one hated his own body, but they feel the need to care for their body, just as Christ does the church- for we are members of His body."

Today is Valentine's Day in the US. It's a total man made holiday. I don't even know how or when it got started.

I do know, as a single person, it stinks to see and hear all of this love stuff between two people.

However, I am encouraged this morning and wanted to do the same for you.

The Scripture listed above is true..but it's also false in a way.

Let me explain:

There are people, men and women alike, who very much dislike their body. At times, I am one of them. What this Scripture is referring to though, is when we are hungry, we eat. When we are thirsty, we drink. Therefore, we are taking care of our body's needs.

The problem is, we have a warped sense of our bodies thanks to media and society.

We think you have to be just perfect. Perfect hair, perfect size and shape... that type of stuff.

That's bull.

God made us all the way we are... the size, shape, and color we are. On the topic of color, can I just be honest here. Skin color is NOT the person... and even us white folks are different shades. You should see my oldest son and my other son and daughter. My oldest son is a little olive colored. He tans very easily in the summer. (Their dad has some Indian in his family.) My other two kids, they are white as white can be. LOL

Anyway, sorry, I got off topic..... 

My point here is this... loving yourself, who God made you to be, is the best thing you can EVER do for yourself.

When we sit and complain about this body part, or that freckle, or that fat, we are putting down God's creation. It's reverse pride.

Now, on another note... our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit if we are Christians. It's our job to take care of these bodies.

I am working on mine. I am adjusting my eating habits, doing Zumba (cardio) about 4 hours a week, and now toning 3 hours a week. I need to drink more water too.

I will never been skinny. I am short, and I have Poly Cystic Ovarian syndrome. But I CAN take care of and love myself... all of me... the outside and the inside.

Loving ourselves is a way to show people God's love. In my Christine Caine devotional today she said, "Never forget that for many people you are the only Bible they will ever read and the only disciple of Christ they will ever meet. We are God's love letter to the world."

If we are God's love letter to the world...what are we telling the world by hating ourselves?

I know I've mentioned this before...but it fits perfectly today. At the end of Zumba class, we do some arm stretches that end up with us hugging ourselves.

Reggie says, "Love yo self, love yo self, love yo self." 

(He is a very good speaker, it just sounds cool when he says "yo". LOL)

Going to Zumba is a way to love ourselves. We are doing something about our health. But we could do Zumba every day, be in good shape and still not love ourselves.

God wants us to love ourselves because He made us. He gave us the looks, talents, abilities, and skills that He wanted us to have. 

And you know what else... sometimes OUR CHOICES cause us to have problems. We need to make wise choices and live according to God's will... making those choices based on loving ourselves.

This isn't about being selfish and putting yourself first. But it is about having a healthy view point of yourself and seeing yourself the way GOD sees you.

If this is something you struggle with, I would love to pray with you. I used to struggle pretty bad with this myself.

God bless you today and always. YOU ARE LOVED!