Look around you. Peel back the layers and what do you see? Do you see love? How about we get a little more personal? What do you see when you peel back the layers of your own life? Yes, I know, soul searching is hard work. It’s uncomfortable work. We don’t want to know what lies beneath the surface. What’s buried is best left that way. What if the buried is what causes so much hate in society? The problem with people isn’t society itself. Although society is a contributing factor, it’s not the main cause of hate. We are told in Leviticus 19:18, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
Do not seek revenge. Do not bear a grudge. Instead, love others as you love yourself. Wait a minute! Isn’t loving myself conceited? Depends. Love of self is a state of appreciation and regard for your own well-being, happiness, and mental health. It is not a feeling of constant perfection or narcissism, but rather a practice of self-compassion, accepting your flaws, and prioritizing your physical and emotional needs. Conceited, on the other hand, is someone with an excessively high opinion of themselves, their appearance, or their abilities. There’s a huge difference between self-love and being conceited. What society needs is people with more self-love and less conceitedness. Self-love is respecting who we are. It’s accepting the good, and the bad.
When we practice self-love we are in a position to love our neighbors. How can there be respect for others when people don’t have respect for themselves? How can we offer compassion to others, when we don’t show compassion to ourselves? And if we don’t accept our flaws, how can we accept the flaws of others? I have many flaws. I am also a perfectionist with very high standards for myself. My expectations of myself are very high. This can create a problem because, at times, I transfer these qualities to other people. It’s something I have to be aware of and work at every day. I have to give myself permission to not be perfect. It’s unfair to others and myself to expect perfection. The thing is, how we see ourselves dictates how we treat others.
Self-love is important. It determines how we treat the people we come across during our daily tasks. God has spoken, and He is saying, no revenge, no grudges. He is telling us to see ourselves as imperfect people, living with our imperfect people. So we need to practice self-love. As we do, we can offer love to others.
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