You\u2019ve likely heard the platitude: \u201cYou have to love yourself before someone else can love you.\u201d<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t happen every day, but when life seems to become too complicated or my depression takes hold, it\u2019s like an emotional and mental levee breaks. I begin to see my shortcomings as failures, my comforts as complacencies and my difficulties as incompetence.<\/p>\n
Self-hate creeps in before I can barely detect it. I trick myself into thinking I need to try harder as if my salvation depends on me. I try to do anything that will make God happier with me. I begin to wonder if I will ever be worthy of God\u2019s affection again — or if I ever had it in the first place.<\/p>\n
It pops into my head: \u201cCan God love me if I hate myself?\u201d<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re anything like me, take heart. God designed the Gospel for us unworthies.<\/p>\n
Jesus says in Mark 2:17, \u201cThose who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.\u201d In the very beginnings of His public ministry, Jesus begins replacing the world\u2019s platitudes with His: Our sickness is the very thing that makes us savable.<\/p>\n
Paul echoes a similar sentiment in his first letter to the church at Corinth: \u201cBut God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, \u2018Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord\u2019\u201d (1 Corinthians 1:27-31).<\/p>\n
The proud and haughty seek to be their own saviors; Gospel-needy people are sick and they are often shameful. They know they can do nothing and need to be rescued by someone whose status supersedes their own. They know they need to be fixed because they feel sin\u2019s pang deep in their bones.<\/p>\n
If you find yourself feeling sick and shameful, consider that God could be using it to remind you that you are not capable of saving yourself. Instead of being antithetical to God\u2019s salvation, your sickness and shame actually pave the way for it.<\/p>\n
Even so, while we believe God is able to save us, some of us wonder if He actually loves us — perhaps because we have sinned one too many times or we feel we are too stubborn to be loved. This, too, misunderstands of the love of God.<\/p>\n
When you can\u2019t love yourself and wonder where God\u2019s love is, remember the God by Whom you are loved:
\n \u2022 You may doubt it sometimes, but you are predestined, called, justified and glorified by the Father (Romans 8:30). The Father actually loves us and calls us His children so that we will be like Him, since we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:1-2).<\/p>\n
\u2022 You may doubt it sometimes, but Jesus can actually free you from your sins (Romans 6:22). He is not ashamed to call you His brother or sister because you have actually been made holy by His sacrifice (Hebrews 2:11).<\/p>\n
\u2022 You may doubt it sometimes, but the Holy Spirit can actually effect change in your life (Romans 12:2). The Spirit brings us true life — something the flesh cannot do (John 6:63).
\nYou are not worthy of the Gospel. You never have been. God\u2019s love is not due to your loveableness. Because of this, He will not leave you, even when you\u2019re unlovable.<\/p>\n
You are reckoning with a God who came down to take on flesh so that He could replace your unworthiness with His worthiness — a God who loves you even when you don\u2019t love yourself. Your doubts cannot overpower the unchangeable character of God. Your blood-bought status can never be revoked by even the deepest fears or the darkest doubts. Your sonship in the family of God is the result of Christ\u2019s merits alone, and He is the one who loves even the most unlovable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You\u2019ve likely heard the platitude: \u201cYou have to love yourself before someone else can love you.\u201d It doesn\u2019t happen every day, but when life seems to become too complicated or my depression takes hold, it\u2019s like an emotional and mental levee breaks. I begin to see my shortcomings as failures, my comforts as complacencies and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1379,1427,5519,3460,4177,3399,5520,1383],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}